


xLet It Gox

by xElsax



Category: Frozen (2013), Paperman (Short Film 2012), Tangled (2010), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Adventure, F/F, Female Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Indie Music, Lesbian Character, Love, Music Festival, Realism, Romance, Slow Build, riotgrrl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 03:50:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7997524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xElsax/pseuds/xElsax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over the course of several nights, each with a music scene completely different than the last, Ariel tries to understand what it means to connect: to sounds, to people, and to herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night One: Let's Get This Place Moving!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xElsax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xElsax/gifts).



"Oh my god they're playing tonight!" Ariel squealed. "I have to get ready!"

Her new favorite band, xLet It Gox, was playing at a local music venue a few cities over. The Xs in their name were a clear indication they took the straight edge movement pretty seriously, which was great because she had no interest in alcohol, and especially not drugs. This was something Eric, her boyfriend of two years, never was able to understand. It was just one of many things that led to their eventual divide, the main being her homosexuality.

Ariel only recently discovered it herself. She kept wondering why she never felt any spark with Eric. Any magic. Perhaps she was just attracted to the idea of him, since at the time he offered an escape from a life she wasn't happy with. He didn't take the news lightly, however. In fact, he kind of freaked out. Ariel tried to assure him that it had nothing to do with him, but he wasn't convinced. It could've been worse though. He didn't berate her or get violent or anything like that, but they haven't spoken since. Which was fine, because she's moved on. But she was still completely lost.

_Now what am I suppose to do? Where do you even meet other lesbians? How are you suppose to find them?_

One way was through online dating. She was hesitant of the idea at first, but eventually created a profile and uploaded a picture. She was surprised how much immediate attention she received within the first hour. The messages poured in. All types of different girls, and even some guys who must've slipped through the cracks of the search algorithm (or were just so cocky they were convinced they could convert her "back.") Most of the mail were comments about her bright red hair, or how beautiful she was, or her blue eyes, or just straightaway asking her out on a date. It was all very overwhelming and also discouraging. None of these people had anything in common with her, and more importantly, nobody really seemed interested in getting to know her.

So she put the site on hold and tried to focus on other things in her life, like this concert. During her dark period with Eric, she discovered new genres of extreme music that had positive lyrics that really resonated and spoke to her. These songs are what helped her to ultimately accept who she was, and she was forever grateful for that. In fact, she was going to try to thank the lead singer of xLet It Gox personally tonight if the opportunity presented itself.

Ariel shuffled down the stairs and flew around the railing, running past her dad who was sitting on the couch watching TV. "Daddy I'm taking the car okay? I'll be back later."

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" He turned his head towards her though his eyes were still glued to the screen.

"To a concert." She stood by the door, spinning the keys around her finger, with little patience.

"A concert?! With who?" He immediately regretted asking as he remembered she'd just broken up with Eric, and since all of her time was consumed by him, she hadn't taken the time to make any other friends. He corrected himself. "I mean, are you going to be okay? Where is it? Why don't you ask one of your sisters to go?"

"Daddy I'll be fine, and they wouldn't be interested anyway." She began to open the door. "I'm eighteen now, I can take care of myself."

"I-" He couldn't think of a counter argument. "I know. Okay, well, have fun. Be careful. Call me."

She smiled and waved with her fingers through the crack of the closing door.

Ariel jabbed the keys into the ignition and the auxiliary cord into the iPod. The song pounded out of the speakers at 200 BPM as she sped out of the driveway. Once she hopped on the freeway she consulted the directions on her smartphone. The show was in Arendelle, which was about six cities over, and the estimated time of arrival was only 37 minutes. She was slightly nervous, she'd never been to one of these types of shows before, only through videos on the Internet. The passionate performances and the energetic movement of the crowd was tantalizing. It looked like so much fun. She felt she was missing out by not being there.

 _Oh! This is it!_ She merged lanes with a jolt, almost missing the off-ramp, the loud blaring of a horn reminding her she forgot to check her mirrors. _Oh shiii- Sorry!_ She tried to wave to the car she cut off.

After following the directions on her phone while also trying to keep her eyes on the road, she pulled up to this gloomy, run-down building that looked like an abandoned restaurant. The only indication she was at the right place were all people gathered around outside. She pulled in and found a parking spot next to an old white van. There was a snowman plush on the dash. _How cute, I wonder if this is the bands' van. Hehe, band van. Van of the band._

She walked up to what she assumed was the ticket window, which had various types of stickers plastered all over the glass. There was a large crack running down the middle, which was conveniently repaired using stickers. In her haste she had forgotten to even check how much the tickets were. She opened her wallet. _Hope I have enough._ She leaned in to speak to the overweight man with a thick long beard who was slouched back on a tiny chair that looked like it was about to snap. If his beard were white he might've looked like Santa, except this guy looked very apathetic. "Hi, how much are the tickets?"

St. Lethargic didn't uncross his arms or budge from his position or even acknowledge her existence. He didn't move at all, and for a moment Ariel became frightened, but then he nodded towards a simple home-printed piece of paper taped to the glass that read $10. "Ten bucks." She was surprised he even said anything.

"That's it?! Ten bucks? Wow!" She blurted out.

The dead man's eyes finally focused. He was amused by the girl's innocent glee. His serious, scary demeanor was broken by a subtle smirk. "Yeah it's a smokin' deal isn't it?"

Ariel pulled a twenty out of her wallet and slid it under the glass. She examined her remaining money. _I'm like rich now. Still have 50 bucks._

Resetting back to his default face, he slid the ticket and change back to her. "Have fun." She wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but thanked him anyways.

She walked over to a slimy looking door which was being guarded by a similarly big, bearded man on a similarly small chair. She had to turn around and look at the ticket booth to see if it was the same guy. _Are they twins? No, this guy has darker skin._

"How's it going?" The twin asked as she was gandering at the window. This one was much more friendly, definitely not the same guy.

"Oh, I'm good!" She quickly turned back, handing him the ticket. "And you?"

He slowly nodded his head. "It's all good. Who are you here to see?"

"Oh uh, Let It Go."

"Yeah that's who most people are here for. I've been waiting for someone to say God Help The Outcasts. It's my niece's band. Have you heard of them?"

"Um, yeah I-"

The guard chuckled. "You don't have to lie. I know they're not as well known, I've just been trying to gauge their popularity, and so far it's zip." He guffawed at his own joke, his belly gently rippling, while ripping off the ticket stub and dropping it into a tiny wastebin. _Is everything here tiny or just seem that way next to these guys?_

"Well I'll be sure to check them out."

"I appreciate it." He winked at her, handing back the ticket. "Have fun." His version was much more sincere.

As she took the ticket the ground started rumbling and she could hear people cheering inside. The sound was radiating off the door, leaking through the cracks, and the violent vibrations were palpable when she gripped the sticky door handle. When she pulled it opened a blast of sound waves smacked her in the face and attacked her eardrums. She forged forward into the thick, hot air, letting the heavy door slam behind her. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the high contrast of complete darkness and bright lights flashing from the stage. She could barely see anything, and didn't know where to go. She walked forward, against the direction everyone was facing, trying not to bump into anyone, maneuvering in and out of the people evenly scattered across the room. She finally emerged from the people maze to a black void that was the back wall. Being the only person that far back, she turned around and leaned against it. She took this chance to observe her surroundings.

 _The music is so incredibly loud!_ Ariel had been to big arena concerts before, but somehow this small venue seemed louder. Maybe it was because the same big sound was compacted into a smaller space, like a pressure cooker, or something. _This is even better than I imagined! The place is so lively, it's amazing!_ She had a big smile on her face as she took it all in, absorbing all the energy amongst her.

She looked up at the band playing on stage. There was a guy with dreadlocks pacing back and forths on stage screaming into the microphone. It was a different kind of look because nobody really had dreads in this type of music, at least as far as she was concerned. They also had a unique tribal-like sound overlaid onto the hardcore punk. This was mainly through synthesizers, but she noticed an actual African drum within the setup. _How cool!_

It didn't seem like anybody knew any of their songs, because the crowd was just standing still, despite the singer's animated performance. There were a few people, however, in the middle of floor bashing into each other and moving their arms and legs to the beat of the music. _The moshpit! Ugh...Looks scarier in person...I don't think I can do it._

The song ended and the feedback of the microphone wailed. The singer just stood there panting, then held up his hand and breathlessly announced "We're Son of Man and we have one more song for you tonight!" This was met with a lackluster, scattered applause. Ariel sort of felt bad for them and tried to add to it.

As the beat of the drum started the final song, she noticed somebody walk in the door. The bright sunlight poured in and she could only see the silhouette of the person before the door fell and it disappeared into the blackness. It was definitely a girl, the outline was feminine. _Very_ feminine. The figure walked through a flood of light revealing her appearance for a second before vanishing back into the shadows. _Whoa._ She reappeared when the stage lights started quickly strobing to the rhythm of the music, making her look like an animation walking at five frames per second. _Oh my god she's gorgeous!_ Ariel noticed she was wearing the same color lipstick as her, and that she was covered in tattoos. There was a giant rose on her chest coming out of the V-neck of her red flannel, rising up to the bottom of her neck. She also had designs wrapping around both arms. The first one looked like—she squinted her eyes to try and make it out _—leaves!_ Ariel was so busy checking this girl out she hadn't realized how close she had gotten. She quickly looked up to her face to find the beautiful girl smiling back at her, obviously noticing Ariel admiring the ink on her skin. She embarrassingly looked away while pushing her hair behind her ear. When she looked back the girl's attention was redirected towards the stage. _Dang._

But there was something captivating about her, and not just because of her pretty face—well, mostly because of that—but rather an alluring aura that radiated off her. She was hip yet looked as she belonged to another era. Maybe it was her old-fashioned hair style, which ended in a large poof sitting on her shoulders. She had modern red framed glasses that matched her lips, but was also wearing a long black skirt. Her style was very eclectic.

 _I wonder why she's by herself. Maybe the same reason I'm by myself! Ooh! I wonder if I should approach her. No, that's ridiculous, what if she's not gay?_ _This is all still new to me! How am I suppose to know? Is gay intuition real? Gaydar? Because I'm not detecting anything. Should I be detecting something? Why am I not detecting anything! My gaydar is broken! Maybe I should just walk over and introduce myself and see if I pick up any signals. Oh I know, I'll just pretend to accidentally bump-_ Ariel's thought process was interrupted when her little crush started waving to someone. _Oh no she's with someone, and I bet it's going to be—_ A guy walked up to her— _I knew it._ The small amount of confidence fuel she was going to use to propel herself over to the girl and start a conversation evaporated in that very instant. The two heterosexual lovers smiled at each other without saying anything, not that they would even be able to hear each other anyways over the 100 decibel sound.

The music finally stopped and the crowd started cheering as the dread-head on stage held up his hand again and said, "Thank you, good night!"

Ariel had forgotten music was even playing because she was so consumed in the fantasy of the girl.

The room became bright, people started murmuring, and a rock playlist started playing in the background as the band started packing up their instruments and walking off stage. She could now see what the place actually looked like. The walls had t-shirts pinned to them of past bands that had played at the venue. The floor was sprinkled with black spots where people had spit out their used gum. There was a little stand in the back corner where merchandise was being sold by the band members themselves. _Ooh I wonder if Elsa is back there!_

Elsa was the lead singer of xLet It Gox. Ariel especially loved the fact they were a female-fronted band. They stand out in the predominantly male metalcore scene. Other bands sometimes have a female guitarist, but in this band the girl was front and center. Elsa did all the singing, the screaming, the yelling, and even the deep growls. She did it all!

Ariel once showed their music to Eric. He wasn't a fan. That didn't bother her, the music's not for everyone, but when he said he thought it was weird to have a girl screaming, that's when she got defensive, and one of their fights followed. It only made her like the band even more.

She approached the merchandise counter. It was like any other concert. T-shirts were on display with prices written on scraps of paper attached to each. They were also selling the CDs of every band playing. All of the stuff was more expensive than the actual ticket.

No Elsa.

 _Maybe I can sneak into the back._ _They'll probably be a bunch of big guards waiting to kick me out. "But I'm with the band! I'm not a groupie I swear!"_

A brawny blonde guy behind the counter noticed the girl very obviously looking for someone. "Let me guess, you're looking for Elsa."

"Yeah how'd you know!" She turned to the man wearing an orange tanktop with light blue stripes. He looks familiar. _Oh!_ It was the drummer of xLet It Gox. "Hey you're Kristoff, right?"

"Yup. It's always nice to be recognized. Usually people come around here looking for Elsa. She's quite popular."

"Well I think your drumming is very good!" She imitated frantic air drums.

"Hah! Why thank you."

There was a brief, slightly uncomfortable pause. Ariel felt bad for not being there to visit him. She awkwardly pulled her ticket out of her pocket. "Um, would you mind signing this for me?"

"Sure thing." He scribbled on it with a sharpie sitting on the table and handed it back, seeming pleased. She looked at the squiggly line on the ticket and smiled back at him without saying anything. Anticipating her next question he said, "Elsa will be back here after we play our set."

"Oh okay great! Thank you! I look forward to it. It was nice meeting you!" She beamed before slipping away into a cluster of people.

Ariel realized that she had left the house without even seeing what she looked like. It's important not to be vain, but she headed towards the restroom anyways. She walked down a dimly lit hallway until she found the womens' sign on the wall with a nail protruding out of it. Further down the hall was an opening to an outside area where lots of people were smoking cigarettes. The smell reminded her of the brand Eric used to smoke. She was automatically transported to a different time in her life. It was an indifferent feeling, mainly. She didn't feel any regret or sadness or even anger. However the more she marinated in the smell of the smoke and in the memory it triggered...she remembered how he would light one up after they...now she's feeling queasy. She tried to move but her legs were locked while the unpleasant memory continued to harass her. She probably looked crazy just standing in the middle of the hall staring at the wall. She thought about how she used to just lie there on the bed, staring at the ceiling fan spinning, feeling completely empty and not understanding why. They would just sit there in silence while the fan blew the smoke back down into her lungs as she took a deep breath when she sighed. The windows were usually shut, so the smoke would just cycle around and around. Her mind constantly ran, trying to comprehend what was wrong with her. "You okay babe?" he would ask. She would just make up some lie about not feeling good, but you can only use it so many times before people catch on. There's nothing more awkward than fighting naked.

 _I feel sick._ She scurried into the restroom trying to put it all out of her mind.

 _What the?!_ She was taken aback by the explosion of color that pierced her eyes. There were layers upon layers of graffiti covering every inch of the walls, ceiling, and even the ground. Like someone had set off a paint bomb of the entire rainbow spectrum. It was so beautiful yet disgusting. Trash and toilet paper and tampon wrappers littered the ground. There were no paper towels or hand dryer. The sink was dripping water and the handle was broken off and had somehow made its way to the other side of the room. An audible laugh was let out when she noticed the only stall was missing its door! The toilet bowl also had graffiti on it.

 _This is crazy!_ Ariel took out her phone to document her sighting, knowing nobody would believe her unless she had proof. But then again, who would she even show? Her dad? This thought dampened her amusement, causing her to fade back into her depressed mood.

There was a notification. _Sigh._ The dating site was setup by default to send her emails whenever she received a new message. _I'm in no mood for this right now._ She made a mental note to disable the feature once she got home.

She walked over to the mirror, surprised the restroom even had one. The entirety of it was covered by stickers, except a small circle that was ripped away to reveal the reflection. She ducked down to look into it. The reversed girl ran fingers through her thick ruby hair, then stuck her lower lip to the side and ruffled it with her breath. Her focus was redirected to the top of the mirror, where someone had written "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL" with pink lipstick. Against the backdrop of this gloomy bathroom, it was strangely poetic and inspiring. Interpreting the message as deeper than superficial, her spirits were instantly lifted. She smiled back at herself, and proudly exited the room.

As soon as she stepped out into the hallway someone crashed into her. _Oww!_

"Oof! I'm so sorry!" The guy held out his hands as he rotated around her, continuing to run down the hallway.

Before she could even comprehend what was going on all of the lights went out and the crowd started cheering. _I can't see! I'm gonna die!_ She stood there like a terrified deer (not) in headlights, holding out her hands hoping nobody else would run into her. Once her eyes adjusted, the hallway was illuminated by the red glow of the exit sign just enough for her to inch along the wall until she rounded the corner and was back to her original spot by the very back wall. The blinding overhead lights flashed on and she held up her arm to shield her eyes. The band members all walked onto the stage, stopping and mounting into their appropriate position and instrument.

Ariel's eyes were fixated on the guitarist, or rather the guitarist's long bronze legs, as they walked across the stage, barefoot. _Doesn't that hurt?_ Her eyes stared at the gold anklet and followed the curves upward to her denim shorts and then her black form-fitting tank top, right as she positioned the guitar strap between her breasts, where they slightly lingered. _I'm such a pervert._ She continued the gaze up her curly, flowing midnight black hair, before finally settling on her emerald green eyes. _Those have got to be the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!_

She was in love, again.

The guitarist bent down at her knees to pick up the cable and plug it into the guitar, while balancing on her toes. Ariel stared intensely at her thighs pressed against her calves, and then at her cleavage when she leaned forward. She caught her mouth gaping and blinked repeatedly. _Why am I such a pervert?_ She moved her head away but her eyes magnetized back to the source of attraction. _Damn she's so sexy! I can't help it! Why are there so many hot girls here?!_ The eye candy produced a pick seemingly out of thin air between her fingertips, which were painted black and chipping. It wouldn't have seemed like magic if Ariel's eyes weren't glazed over with lust.

Her fingers up on the neck of the guitar started dancing while the lower ones holding the plastic triangle started twitching with seasoned dexterity. The guitar intro that poured out of the speakers activated the cheering of the crowd while a guy ran out onto the stage yelling, with an unamplified voice, "GODDDDD HELP THE OUTCASTSSSSSS!" before grabbing the microphone off the stand. "Let's get this party started!" The keyboardist clicked on the laptop and thumping dance music played in harmony with the electric guitar. There were multiple things going through Ariel's mind, but the first had to do with her libido. _This is them! She's the guy's niece!_ Her face morphed into a goofy grin. _That's good because I wouldn't mind having him as family._ She got all giddy over her own stupid joke which also made her sigh because it also wasn't a joke. _Ugh, I'm hopeless. Stop thinking and start enjoying the music._

Outstretching his arms and hands, barely holding onto the microphone with his thumb, he raised them up and down, causing the entire room to start bouncing. The crowd was on strings and he was a puppeteer.

He ran behind the gigantic speaker and beach balls began flying out into the audience. The balls would slowly fall down before mechanically shooting off in a random direction.

 _This is so bizarre! They're like a techno dance band!_ She started bobbing her head to the music. _At least now I won't have to lie to the guard if he asks my opinion._

Some people walked in front of her position against the wall, blocking her view and breaking her trance. Ariel looked around. _When did it become so packed?_ More and more people were showing up, presumably for the final act. She stood on her toes and moved her head around trying to see over their shoulders. The party man stopped screaming and started making a giant spinning gesture with his finger so wide he had to move his body with every rotation. The tempo of the song quickened and the guitarist's left hand slid all the way down the neck to dance next to her right, producing high-pitched notes. A vortex emerged within the middle of the crowd as people started running counter-clockwise.

After about a minute the fast paced rhythm abruptly switched back to pounding dance music that was accompanied by rainbow flashing lights. The gaping hole in the middle of the floor was now being used to dance. People were dancing like they would at a rave, shuffling around and shaking their arms. The entire thing was so weird, but everyone was laughing and having fun and simply enjoying themselves.

The music shifted again, but this time to a heavy breakdown, and the carefree shufflers were shoved out of the way by a different set of people who came charging at them. They swung their arms and kicked their legs to the slow rhythm of defined beats from the kicking of the double bass drum, the succession of three low guitar strums, the steady repeating crash of the symbol, and chugging of the singer. When all meshed together, it created a thick, evenly spaced flow that made you unconsciously oscillate.

Ariel was impressed with the bands fusion of disparate musical styles and the consonance between them. She was really enjoying them so far and she might even buy their CD with all that extra cash she has. She was surprised they weren't more popular. People seemed to like them, especially more so than the last band.

 _Ooh!_ The beach ball came out of the sky and landed at Ariel's feet. She picked it up and whacked it as hard as she could, launching it into a speedy trajectory towards the stage before crash landing on the tip of the guitar. Ariel laughed and covered her mouth as the audience cheered. The guitarist wasn't fazed in the slightest, and absentmindedly kicked the ball back while continuing to shred. _She's so cool!_

The audience and the singer started playing volleyball with each other.

* * *

Before Ariel even realized it, there was applause and they were saying goodnight. "Give it up for Victor on the keys!" He presented each member with both arms, allowing time for the audience to cheer and the entertainer to bow and wave. "Hugo on the bass! Esmeralda on the guitar!" The cheering became slightly louder and more masculine. "Quasi on the drums! And I'm Clopin! Goodnight!"

The house lights flicked back on and the radio resumed mid-song. People started moving around to go to the bathroom or outside to smoke or to buy a t-shirt. People were still arriving. The place was almost at full capacity.

Ariel wanted to be front and center for her favorite band, so she got up from the comfort of the back wall and started to walk towards the stage.

"Hey." A tall, good-looking guy stopped her, "Are you here by yourself?"

"I am."

"Are you really? What's a pretty girl like you doing by herself?"

"Haha, well.. thank you." _Please don't ask me out. I'm going to lose my spot! Just tell him you're gay and be on your way._

She slowly started inching away, trying to escape, but he wasn't going to let her go without a fight. "So who are you here to see?"

"Let It Go."

"Yeah me too! They're awesome right? Have you seen them before?"

"No this is my first time."

"Oh well you're in for a treat! I saw them back when they played in the Isles and it was amazing!"

"Oh good! Well, I'm going to go head up closer towards the stage."

"I was going up there too!"

Ariel knew she should be trying to make new friends, but this person was clearly interested in her and she was trying to avoid complications and frankly this entire gender. She wanted to let him down easy but decided against telling him the truth given how the last and only person she told didn't react so well. Not that it should matter since this guy is a total stranger, but still.

"Um. I'm sorry, I'm... I'm kinda seeing someone right now..." It wasn't easy for Ariel to lie, and she immediately regretted it when the guy's bright smile faded.

"Oh, right, duh, of course you are. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just assumed you weren't." He looked away, dejected.

 _Just tell him the truth._ "No you seem like a very nice guy and I would totally be interested if I wasn't..." She chickened out at the last second. She also told a second lie.

"Well thanks." He smiled. "Just let your boyfriend know that he's a very lucky man!" And with that he walked away.

Ariel doesn't know how other people do this, she wasn't cut out for it. Her mood went back down, but she can't worry about that right now. She's here for herself and she needs to focus on herself.

Her phone vibrated again. _I'm turning this stupid thing off._ It was a text from her dad.

"You alive?"

"Yes :) But I gotta go I'll text you later." She silenced her phone. She didn't want anymore distractions ruining her experience.

She moved forward, again moving though groups of people standing and sitting around the floor. She walked about as far as there was open space, before hitting a three-person-thick wall of dedicated fans who weren't about to give up their front row spot.

A sound technician, or some dude who probably works here, walked onto the stage and started testing the microphones by speaking "Check, check!" into them. For some reason this was met with cheering. He walked over to all the instruments and proceeded to test them. This was the closest he was going to get to being a star.

More people were packing in the rectangle space in front of the stage. There were now people on every side of Ariel and she could feel people right up behind her, brushing against her back. All of the surrounding bodies were making it very hot. She fanned herself with her hand and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm. She stood on her toes and looked around noticing the entire house was now filled. It was a good thing she wasn't claustrophobic, otherwise she would be panicking over the fact there was no escape.

About fifteen minutes passed, which feels long and excruciating when you're counting them.

 _What's the hold up?_ Her excitement was making her impatient. Her legs were starting to ache and she was getting dehydrated.

Suddenly everything went dark and the room erupted in applause and cheers. The only lights were the various green and red bulbs of the electrical equipment on stage. Ariel was so excited she couldn't help but let out a howl. "WHOOOOOOOOOO!" Her own voice was drowned out by the rest of the noise.

The lights were still off as shadows walked across the stage. The cheering only got louder. A tiny white screen lit and then the sound of howling wind rang out of the speakers. The figure at the drum set picked up a giant metal fan and pointed it toward the audience, blowing hot air into their faces. Multiple long LED rods illuminated the entire room blue and white, and intelligent light fixtures on the ceiling rotated around creating snowflake patterns on the walls. It was all strangely atmospheric.

One of the lights passed over the drummer in a striped tanktop. _Hey it's Kristoff!_ She was all giddy because now she felt she knew him personally. He put both his hands on his legs and started slamming his foot down against one of the pedals, vibrating the entire room with bass. Ariel could feel it pounding in her chest.

While continuing his steady banging he picked out a pair of sticks from a bundle, and twirled it between his fingers before starting a rhythmic beat. She didn't think the room could get any louder but the volume of the shouting somehow managed to increase., and it kept getting louder as one by one each instrument joined in with Kristoff, creating a pleasing harmony of sounds, which kept building and building, almost on the verge of bursting.

Somebody wearing a light-blue sweatshirt with the hood up came bouncing out onto the stage, bringing the noise level up to the deafening threshold. "LET'S GET THIS PLACE MOVING!" _Elsa! Oh my god it's really her!_ Thankfully nobody could hear her embarrassing fangirl squeal.

Ariel was violently pushed forward into the sweaty backs in front of her, as the entire weight of the room fell toward the stage, trying to get closer.

The built-up music had finally reached its peak, and Elsa held the microphone into the air and lunged her entire upper body down to the floor, breaking the barrier that was holding the music back, creating an explosion of sound.

The crowd erupted into a frenzy, every single person jumping and thrusting in a different direction, like molecules in boiling water, all moving with each other, filling in the gaps, with the occasional one escaping into the air.

Sandwiched between people, Ariel swayed back and forth in the sea of storming people. There were brief moments when her feet didn't even touch the ground as she magically floated over it. When her feet did touch, she would trip over others' feet and legs and fall into the crowd, and the crowd would react by falling back into her. She didn't even try to fight it however because she was loving every second of it. As her body was rocking to and fro with the crowd, her mouth was gaped in awe as she admired the girl singing, but also because it was so hot she couldn't breathe. She looked so awesome up there. She was so cool. _So badass._ But she was also so beautiful. She had white hair that swooped up over her hood, white snowflake ear gauges, white nail polish, dark fitted jeans, and blue Pumba shoes. _She's so perfect._

Elsa stomped her left foot on the foldback speaker, and closed her purple shadowed eyelids, taking deep breathes as the the music continued to shake the room. With her head tilted down, she looked up and out at the crowd, revealing amazing ice cold blue eyes. She scanned across the room, watching the people going crazy beneath her, before stopping and looking at Ariel. Ariel froze, holding her breath, staring back. _Is she looking at me!?_ But only for a brief moment, before Elsa bent over the crowd and started screaming into the microphone, letting her choppy hair fall down, suspended above the fans reaching up to touch it.

The song abruptly ended and the room went dark. Bright yellow floodlights then lit up the audience, and Kristoff started a steady beat as Elsa talked over it. "For this next song, I want everyone up and on this stage giving me a high-five. I even want to see the people all the way in the back up here too."

"I LOVE YOU ELSA!" A deep voice shouted from the back of the room.

Either she didn't hear or just ignored her male groupie and started the next song. "Let's go!" The rest of the instruments kicked in and she started moving up and down the stage. A huge weight fell on the back of Ariel's head pushing her face down and squishing it into the wet shirt in front of her. After the weight was lifted, she noticed it was a body, moving across the top of the audience. His arms were outstretched as he was trying to crawl over the hands and heads to get closer to the stage. As he reached the end, he was vigorously thrown up by the cluster of hands and he landed on the stage on his side. He stood up and started pumping his fists, and Elsa gave him a high-five. He opened his arms to give her a hug and she pushed him back off the stage, and the audience caught him like a fire trampoline. Elsa smirked and the entire room laughed. She then started jumping up and down like a pogo stick, and everybody imitated her. She held the microphone with both hands and unleashed more harsh vocals. Her face looked distressed as she sang, like she was really feeling every word. It was bursting with emotion.

As everyone was jumping, Ariel felt a hand tap her shoulder. She looked over and saw some guy pointing at the ceiling with his hand and moving it up and down. Ariel looked up but he shook his head and started pointing at her. She was still confused but she swiftly shook her head anyways. Then he started pointing at himself. She just kept looking at him like he was psycho. Then the person behind the two of them linked his fingers together and stretched out his arms, and the crazy pointing man placed his foot on the assistant's hands and was launched up over the heads of the audience, being carried on his back to the stage. Before he could be pushed off by Elsa, he ran and leaped off the stage, forming a cannonball. The terrified people below scurried away in reflex, opening up a hole, and the crazy man hit the ground, thankfully on his feet, and tumbled onto the floor. He was quickly helped up by others who pulled him up by his arms but then they were all trampled and the hole was naturally closed in by the force coming from all sides. _Holy shit._

Before Ariel could even catch her breath or grasp what was happening, she was being pushed backwards, and found herself at the outer edge of the mosh pit. The music's tempo slowed to half time. "Okay, here we go Arendale! Show me what you've got!" Elsa yelled as the music started to build up. The people in the middle of the pit started bouncing on alternating feet. Ariel had to get out of there before she was killed. She tried to push back into the safety of the inside but the wall of people was rock solid and she couldn't budge. She was trapped at the circumference and was going to get hit in the face. "OHHHH!" Elsa growled and the breakdown burst, and the dancers started throwing their fists back. Ariel shielded herself and kept trying to move in but kept being rejected back out. The other onlookers around the equator of the pit held out their arms to prevent themselves from being hit. One of the aggressive maniacs started swinging his legs and kept getting closer and closer to Ariel. Before she could be roundhouse kicked in the head, a big guy next to her used his foot to shoved the maniac back towards the center, away from the edge. Ariel saw an opening on the other side of the mosh pit, and without thinking, used her arms to cover her head and sprinted across the middle of the opening, barely avoiding the swinging fists of the dancers, charging at the wall of people, determined to break through. She slammed into the barrier of people on the other side. When she did that, however, she encouraged an army of people to follow her, flooding the entire hole, mowing down the hardcore dancers dominating the area, causing the entire pit to collapse in on itself. Ariel had inadvertently ignited a pool of chaos, one she would be sucked back into, because the line of people she rammed into snapped her back like a rubber band. She was now being fiercely and quickly shoved from every direction. However, instead of letting herself be battered about like she had the entire night, she decided to start fighting back. At every opportunity she found she would shove someone, and then she would be shoved from behind while using that momentum to plunge into somebody else. It was a series of chain reactions.

Ariel found this moshing extremely liberating. It was the perfect outlet for all of her stress. For all of her concerns. For all of her fears. A fantastic therapeutic accompaniment to the already alleviating music. In that moment, everything was melting away.

The song came to an end and so did the fury. Everyone stopped moving and stood still. Ariel now stood at the midpoint of this spread out open space. Without a million hot bodies smooshed up against her, she could finally breath. She was drenched in sweat, and her shirt was sticking to her skin. A faint breeze blew down from the ratty ventilation system. It was warm air, but it still felt nice.

Ariel was now pumped! She was no longer scared. She was ready for anything!

The guitar started wailing, and Elsa stated, "You guys know what to do."

Ariel didn't know what to do. But suddenly everyone started running in a circle around her. Ariel just stood there watching the faces speed by, feeling the wind being generated by this human-powered fan. Immediately somebody was spit out of the circle and they came to stand in the center with Ariel. Shortly after that another person came crashing to their knees and Ariel and the ejected person quickly scooped her up and brought her into the refuge. She thanked them by patting their shoulders. Ariel then saw a familiar face run by. She turned and followed it. _Oh._ It was the stupid straight boyfriend of the hot tattooed red-specs goddess. Ariel wondered if she was nearby as well, but couldn't find her. _Just spend one night with me and I guarantee you'll forget all about him! Dear god, I'm just as bad as those jocks online._ The circle pit was halted by a massive pileup as everyone started falling all over each other. Ariel tried to help up as many people as she could, but then she herself was knocked down to the ground. She tried to get up but more people continued to fall onto her. She was now on the floor and her back and legs were pinned to the ground by deadweight. She couldn't budge and felt like she was suffocating. Panic ensued. _I didn't want it to end like this. I'm still young. There's still so much I haven't experienced, things I haven't accomplished, places I haven't seen, and worst of all, I didn't even get to make out with Elsa!_ Ariel could always make herself chuckle no matter the situation, which usually helped her but also got her into trouble.

The weight was eventually lifted, and Ariel was immediately elevated to her feet by both arms. Somebody looked her in the face and yelled at her asking if she was okay. She couldn't hear what they were saying but could read their lips. Ariel quickly nodded her head, though she was still deliriously grinning. The person continued to hold onto her arm, not entirely convinced she was. Ariel patted their assisting hand and yelled in their ear assuring she was. In fact, she was more than okay, thanks mainly to the flood of adrenaline coursing through her veins. So when the song started building up to its breakdown, Ariel started excitedly jumping. A space was cleared as everyone that was around her hurriedly backed away. They were scared of her. Upon realizing this, she felt a surge of ecstasy, and for the first time in her life, she felt powerful. She was completely liberated. Nothing and nobody could stop her. She was completely in control.

She started spinning around in circles with her arms and fists extended. However, doing this provoked a memory of a similar dance she once did with Eric. Then she thought of his stupid smug face, and how she wasted two years of her life changing who she was for him, and how she'll never get those years back. This riled her up, but right here and now, she was able to vent her bitter regret and resentment in physical form, and this time not into a pillow. She held onto her fist with her hand, and slung it back with all her might. She repeated the action with the opposite arm, before thrusting her arms in a gesture that imitated elbowing somebody in the gut. She performed a series of back kicks, bending all the way down touching the floor with her fingertips. She then started stomping the ground with her foot to the beat of the music, and raising her arms towards the stage, passionately singing out loud to the lyrics. In this moment, she no longer cared how ridiculous she looked or what people might've been thinking, her passion and exhilaration blocked those thoughts out. She made a conscious effort to leave no opening in the radius around her. She dared anybody to try and stop her.

Maybe somebody heard her thoughts, because the second she stopped flailing her arms, she was shoved back into the crowd, and her spot was replaced by another dancer. She was now sprawled out with her back against the onlookers, who were holding her shoulders like a knocked-out boxer. Her mouth was agape and her frail emotional state was bruised. It wasn't a personal attack, but she took it as such. She grounded her teeth, and charged at the enemy, tackling him and pushing him out of the ring and back into the mob where he came from, where he belonged. She couldn't even believe what she was doing, but it was too late, because she was already doing it. She backed up out of the crowd into the open pit, shocked by her own actions. However, the guy was laughing, obviously not taking offense like Ariel had. She relaxed her tense muscles, which were prepared for a returning blow of retaliation, and smiled. But as soon as she dropped her guard she was struck from the side and hurled out of the way, and then the same happened to that person, and eventually everyone was back to pushing each other.

Now out of the frenzied center, Ariel looked up at the stage and saw Elsa with her foot mounted on the monitor speaker, looking down, watching everything that was happening. Ariel felt a wave of embarrassment. Elsa wasn't focusing on anything in particular, not that you really could with so much going on. She was absentmindedly nodding her head to the music behind her, and as the song came to its end, so did her cue. She lifted the microphone from her knee and screamed her lyric, slightly off time. The crowd cheered and Elsa started taking visible breaths. Ariel could see pearls of sweat glistening on her forehead. She wiped them away with her sleeve and then proceeded to pull off the light-blue cause. She must've forgot she was standing in front of an actual audience, at least until she heard the howling. She stopped midway and walked to the drum set with her back to the libidinous men (and Ariel.) She tugged it off while also holding down her shirt underneath to avoid flashing everyone. She threw it onto one of the giant speakers and grabbed a water bottle sitting on top and chugged half of it. She was wearing a white tank top which had large dropped armholes. Crudely written in Sharpie was "girlscout." _Cookies? Or is it a band name? Thin mints sound good._ Peering through the holes was a black bandeau that was covering her breasts, and nothing else! _This isn't happening._ The whistling and cheering continued, including an especially loud, feminine one coming from Ariel. Everybody turned and looked at her, and started laughing. _Oh shit, I'm an idiot._ Ariel nervously looked around because she just exposed herself to a room full of strangers. She was expecting something terrible to happen, but nothing did. Either they didn't clue in, or just didn't care. She looked up at Elsa, hoping she didn't hear the lesbian freak, but she seemed oblivious to everything. She returned to the monitor at the center of the stage, bringing the water with her. In a very casual manner, she asked, "How is everybody?"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the crowd responded.

"Is anybod-"

"ELSA! WILL YOU MARRY ME!?" She was cut off by a sudden proposal, which sounded like the same guy from earlier.

She smiled. "Sorry."

The entire crowd laughed at her rejection, especially Ariel, "HA HA HA!" _...she's mine._

"Is it hot in here?" The crowd reacted as she dumped the remaining of her water onto them, tossing the empty bottle out across the room. "Anybody else?" She grabbed another bottle and started shaking it back and forth, sprinkling the sweating bodies.

"So, we have one more song for you."

"BOOOOOOOOO!"

She ignored the angry mob and continued. "This song," the guitarist started playing a slow melody to accompany Elsa's speech. She looked at the ceiling before continuing. "This song is for anyone who's ever been...down. Depressed. Anyone's who's ever felt alone, or out of place. Like they don't belong." The cheering started to rev up. "Whether it's a outside force, or whether it's all just in your head, just know that you're not alone." The crowd started to get louder, the music started to get louder, and Elsa started to get louder. "This song is for you! To anyone who has ever felt lost or scared!" Ariel got goosebumps. She choked up as she stared up at her idol with watery eyes. This was the reason she loved this band. "And don't ever let anyone stop you from being who you are! You are all beautiful people! Every single one of you! I truly believe that!" The volume of the cheering rapidly increased. "You are not alone! Please know that you are not alone! This song is all of those people! This song is for every single one of you! This song is called Let It Go!" The room exploded. The lights went out and the keyboardist started the intro and everyone went completely insane. Everything before it now seemed mild in comparison. It was all leading up to this moment.

Each person started singing the opening lines as loud as they could along with Elsa. The white LED lights and wind sounds started up again. Elsa stood stationary at the tip of the stage, firmly grasping the microphone with both hands, singing the lyrics with her eyes closed. Meanwhile the crowd below could not stay still at all. Completely blended as one, they were like the ocean at night during a thunderstorm. Everything was dark. The white lights barely lit up the room, and Elsa herself was scarcely visible.

Kristoff rotated the fan around to Elsa, and it blew her beautiful ice white hair forward, surrounding her pained face as she continued to deliver the heartfelt lines. Her singing voice was absolutely incredible.

Without exaggeration, this was simply the best moment of Ariel's life. She was enjoying every single second of this experience. She never wanted it to end.

The tempo increased, and so did Elsa's voice. As she sang the next verse, she proceeded to literally walk off the stage.

_What?_

She extended her left foot forward off the edge of the stage, hovering it over the cheering crowd, waiting for a batch of hands to form a platform, before stepping onto it. Once it was secure, she lifted the other foot up off the ground and over the heads of the fans, who were now all magnetically pulled in together to assist in hoisting up the singer. When Elsa shifted her weight off the stage and completely onto the support of everyone's extended arms, she sank down slightly like a flotation device in a pool, before everyone readjusted their strength and pushed her back up. Elsa started to wobble, so she reached up and put her hand on the low ceiling to keep herself from falling, while continuing to sing into the microphone in her opposite hand. She continued to tread outward, pulling her legs up out of the deep snow, and carefully descending onto the magically erecting stepping stones. Elsa kept trekking on, further and further out, which meant she was getting closer and closer to Ariel, who was meanwhile pushing her way through the bodies towards Elsa, determined to touch her. Even though she was terrified of the idea, she tried doing the pointing signal so she could surf across the top, but there was was no available space to perform that action. Some guy took the liberty of grabbing Ariel's waist to try and boost her up, but kept being knocked over by the chaos.

Elsa stopped about six bodies away diagonally from Ariel. She was so close yet so far.

She looked up in admiration at the towering Elsa, who held the microphone out and down towards the jumbling audience, inviting them to contribute their vocals. Everyone below her scrambled and jumped up on top of each other, trying to have their voice amplified. Elsa and the band completely stopped, and only the voices of the entire room could be heard as they sang the line in unison. "THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY!"

Elsa took her hand off the ceiling and continued to sing with the microphone in both hands, balancing on the audiences' arms like she was standing on a moving bus without holding onto the railings. Some hands of support grabbed her ankles and legs, including a couple of hands placed inappropriately too high up on her thigh.

Elsa fell down to her knees, as hands reached up to catch them, her shins were now being sustained. Singing downward with her eyes closed, Elsa's hair fell down onto the delighted fans, who all had their phones out to record. Even though Elsa was almost literally face to face with these people, her eyes were closed and she didn't look at anyone. She was completely engulfed in her own world, as if nobody around her existed. It was an odd contrast and almost surreal.

She continued singing without ever opening her eyes, forcibly tapping her chest with her finger. The lyrics she was singing was entirely to herself.

She slowly rose up, the crowd chanting the chorus along with her, as she enthusiastically swung her arms about to the words. "Let the storm rage onnnnnnn." As the last line of droned out, she spread her arms out like an angel, and fell backwards, putting the entirety of her trust into the awaiting hands that caught her. She bumped up and down as she was slowly delivered back to the stage on her back. Elsa looked as she was thoroughly enjoying the conveyor belt ride. The band continued the instrumental break until Elsa reached the stage. She rolled onto the ground, hopped to her feet, and continued unfazed.

As she sang she started spinning around in circles, bobbing up and down, and stamping her foot on the floor.

She hopped around on the stage, facing to the side with her finger pointed at the sky, her eyes still closed. "And I'll rise like the break of dawn!"

She ran over to the center edge of the stage and stood tall. "HERE I STAND IN THE LIGHT OF DAYYYYYYY!" She belted out the final note. "LET THE STORM RAGE ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

She held the microphone down, as everyone tried to jump onto the stage. "THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY!"

The entire room started roaring and the lights were flashing. Elsa said, "Thank you," before waving and flying off the stage. Kristoff got up and waved to everyone before he and the rest of the band followed her. All the lights went out and everyone continued clapping.

The lights remained off and the cheering continued. Then, everyone started chanting, "ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!"

Ariel joined in with the request, "ONE MORE SONG!" This went on for at least two full minutes.

Finally, two shadowy figures walked back on, and the clapping and wooing resumed.

They set down two stools. A gentle spotlight illuminated Elsa and Kristoff, who was holding an acoustic guitar. _He plays guitar too?!_

"Hi," Elsa said timidly. The audience slowly calmed down and lowered their voices in order to hear her. "So, we do have one more song for you guys."

"Wooo! Yeah!"

Elsa dragged a stray stand to the front of her stool and snapped her microphone into it, which made a thump sound. "The tone of this one is slightly different, I hope you guys don't mind."

They clearly didn't mind.

Kristoff started adjusting the strings and picking at them, with the room completely silent. He plucked a string and turned tuning peg, and the tone morphed into a drone. Everyone was eagerly waiting. Elsa was looking out into the dark abyss, unfocused.

He stopped, and looked at Elsa, signalling he was ready.

"This song is dedicated to my parents."

Ariel gasped.

Elsa started singing in a soft lullaby, as Kristoff slowly followed with gentle plucking strings. "There are loved ones, in the glory, whose dear forms you often miss. When you close your earthly story, will you join them in their bliss?"

She had such a lovely voice. One might even wonder why she wastes it in a screaming band. _Why does she waste it in a screaming band?_

Elsa gripped the seat of her stool between her legs. Her eyes looked sad. They were lowered. Contemplative.

Ariel stared at Elsa's delicate face for the entire length of the song.

"...Now the family is parted. Will it be complete one day? Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, by and by? Is a better home awaiting, in the sky, in the sky?" She ended it with a whisper.

The room was perfectly still. Elsa continued looking down. It was so quiet you could hear the gentle hissing of the vents above. Then, the crowd broke into a loud, long applause, garnished with cheers, which was just as enthusiastic for all the other songs, if not more.

Elsa formed a slight smile, and she and Kristoff stood up, waved, without saying anything, and walked off the stage. The applause continued long after they were gone.

The lights and radio came on, and it was all over.

_Wow._

Ariel stood still, still taking it all in, as everyone else started chattering and slowly filing out. It was simply amazing.

 _Oh!_ Ariel just remembered that it actually wasn't all over, she still had to meet Elsa! She jolted around, eager and panicked, and headed over to the merchandise stand, just like Kristoff advised. But she wasn't the only one, there were hordes of people surrounding the table, all eager to meet Elsa. _Nooooooooooo._

Maybe Kristoff could hook her up.

She nonchalantly strolled passed everyone, cutting to the front. but nobody was there. She looked down the hall and saw Kristoff chatting with somebody. She walked over to him and waited for him to notice her.

"Oh hey, it's you. What's up?"

"You guys were so amazing! _You_ were amazing! I didn't know you could play the guitar!"

He raised his eyebrows, smugly, and smiled, pleased by the girl's gushing compliments. "Yeah, it's true! But I'm glad you dug it. Elsa would be glad too."

Ariel opened her mouth.

"You're looking for her aren't you?"

"I just really wanted to tell her how much the music meant to me."

"She'll really appreciate that. Yeah, she's in the back, she'll be out in a minute."

Ariel made a pleading face. "You don't think maybe I could...you could give me...special access or something? It's just because I'm like the biggest fan!"

Kristoff scrunched the side of his face. "Well, I totally would, but I want to give everyone in line an equal opportunity, you know?"

"No of course I understand."

"But I'll tell you what, afterwards once everyone is gone I'll give you a special tour."

"Wow thanks!"

"Okay I gotta get to the merch, that's where we make most of our money!"

"Okay, I'll see you later."

Ariel walked back to the end of the line.

_Oh no, not now, please don't notice me._

"Hey! Did you enjoy the show?" It was the guy from earlier who hit on her and had his straight heart broken.

"Yeah I really did. It was way better than I imagined."

"They didn't play the acoustic song at the end last time."

"Really? It was so good."

"Yeah it was," he trailed off. There was awkward silence, before he abruptly changed direction. "I'm sorry, I know you probably get this all the time, but you're one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen. I know this is inappropriate, but I just had to let you know. I also hope your boyfriend appreciates you."

She couldn't help but be moved by his declaration, but he was also killing her. She thought about just telling him the truth this time, but she still wasn't comfortable with it. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "You're very sweet, thank you."

"Okay I'll let you go now. Perhaps we'll meet again at a future show? So until then, goodbye."

She waved, and then sighed. She then became aware of how much sweat was on her face when a droplet rolled down her temple, tickling her. She decided to go to the bathroom, figuring she wouldn't lose her spot in line since she was the last person anyways.

 _Ahh!_ Her hair was in shambles. It was wet, sticking to forehead, and tangled in all directions. _That guy's nuts. I'm just glad Elsa didn't see me like this._ Even if she wanted to she couldn't use the sink, and there weren't any paper towels either, so she used the bottom of her shirt to wipe her face. She tried to brush her hair with her nails. _I'm a mess._

There was cheering coming from outside, so she quickly stepped out to see what the commotion was.

 _Elsa!_ She was posing for a picture with a fan. _How does she still look so perfect?_

Now she just had to wait. There were guys and girls taking their picture with Elsa, and asking for autographs. Some people shook her hand, others opted for a hug. Then that was followed by some chitchat, and ended with a friend taking a picture for the more dedicated fan. In the event they both were, she had to wait for the friend to pass the phone off to the other friend as they insisted on having separate photos. Or when they wanted a group shot, they handed their phone to Kristoff. _Poor Kristoff._

Ariel continued to patiently wait in line as the gears of the meet-and-greet grinded on, She looked around the room. The building was nearly empty. The doors were propped open and everyone was hanging around outside in the cool night air. Ariel's face lit up when she saw the girl with the tattoos walk past the doorway with her boyfriend. She was still tempted to go talk to her. _Oh my god I'm so dumb, she might be bi! Or maybe that's not even her boyfriend! There's still hope!_

Before Ariel told Eric, and before she had reached a conclusion, she had wondered if she herself was bisexual, and for a while she was almost hoping she was, but realized she was just searching for an excuse to avoid the inevitable confrontation.

She was going to do it. She was really going to go talk to her. What does she have to lose? Her dignity? She looked back. There were just a few more people. She looked at the door opening. Should she chase the fantasy girl and jeopardize meeting Elsa? She played out a scenario of what might happen in her head.

_"Hi! I just wanted to say I think your tattoos are super cool!"_

_"Hey! Get away from my girl! POW!"_

Ariel started grinning but tried to suppress it so people wouldn't think she's crazy. She tried again.

_"Hi, I'm Ariel. You're one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen." Ugh, I'm sorry guy, now I feel your pain_

She tried again.

_"Hey, I like your lipstick! What shade is it? It's just like mine! I wish my lips were on yours!"_

_"Ew get away from me you lesbian! POW! Looks like your shade is black and blue! HA HA HA!"_

Ariel was smiling like a nutjob. She glanced over and saw Kristoff and Elsa staring at her. Everyone was gone and she was the last one.

"Oh! Sorry." She shyly walked up to Elsa, and then choked. She was even more beautiful up close. She caught herself gawking and embarrassingly looked down.

"She was telling me how much the music means to her." _Thanks Kristoff._

"Oh you two already met?"

"Y-yeah!"

"But I didn't catch her name."

"Oh! Right, it's Ariel." She turned to Elsa, and shook her hand. "I'm Ariel. Um, I'm a really big fan! I'm don't mean to sound cliche, I'm sure everyone tells you that."

"Don't worry, you're fine. I saw you in the crowd. Your hair really pops." Elsa looked at Ariel's vibrant red hair before picking some of it up from the bottom and letting it slide off her delicate fingers. "I love this color, what do you use?"

Ariel's heart started racing. Either because she was being touched by Elsa or because she was noticed by Elsa.

She swallowed, before laughing nervously. "Um, you know, I can't even remember, it's nothing special, I'm sure. Not like yours anyways."

Elsa smiled. "No, I don't use anything special either. Nothing expensive or anything."

"But it like, glows! And I love this braid, how do you do that? It's amazing." She pointed at Elsa's hair, stopping short of touching it. "Oh, I'm sorry I'm embarrassing myself. I didn't just come so we could do each other's hair."

Elsa laughed.

That helped Ariel relax. She continued to tell the reason she was here in the first place. She had practiced what she might say in the bathroom mirror before she left, but those lines completely escaped her now. Probably for the best. "So, um, I think the music is incredible and the lyrics are incredible. I just wanted to say thank you, because, well..." She looked over at Kristoff, who was smiling at her. "...I was going through a really rough time in my life, and your music really helped me to...get through that. So I just wanted to thank you personally." Ariel was looking off to the side somewhere. Afraid of letting the silence sit, she continued talking. "And like, when you were talking up on stage, I got chills. Like literally goosebumps." She touched her arms to emphasize. The silence she feared lingered. "So yeah...I just felt I had to tell you."

"I'm glad to hear that. Really, I am. Thanks for sharing that, it really means a lot to me. You're the very reason I do this," Elsa said, as Ariel looked up and saw her smiling face. "People ask me all the time why I'm in this type of music, and I tell them it's because I feel you can connect with your fans in a way you can't with other genres. Not only physically at the shows, but emotionally too, on a deeper level I feel. It's powerful."

"I was thinking the same thing! Your singing voice is amazing! Have you considered doing something else? I mean, I agree that it's powerful, but maybe you could do something on the side! You and Kristoff! Together!"

Elsa laughed again. "What do you think Krist? You wanna start an acoustic act?"

Kristoff shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah sure."

"Yeah it's crossed my mind, but I don't think I've ever seriously considered it. I like this scene too much. But you liked the thing at the end right? This is actually the first time we did that. We weren't too sure what the reception would be, but people seemed to enjoy it."

"I certainly did, it was beautiful."

"Well then that settles it. We'll definitely do it at our next show." Elsa looked over at Kristoff and then back at Ariel. "Hey, we're all going to grab a bite to eat, did you want to tag along?"

Ariel froze. _Oh my god. Is this really happening? Is she really asking me this? Is this what I think it is? No, it's not. But it could be. It doesn't matter what it is, just-_

"No big deal or anything."

"Oh, yeah! I'd love to!"

"Okay cool, so why don't you—actually, here, just follow me."

_This can't be happening._


	2. Chicken and Waffles

**A/N: If anyone's interested, here's the acoustic song Elsa sang at the end: youtube.com/watch?v=9F1l6xXLSI0 or search "Will The Circle Be Unbroken? Bioshock"  
**

* * *

It was all unreal. Ariel followed Elsa closely as they walked down the forbidden hall, and through a top secret doorway. There was a giant guard wearing a black t-shirt leaning against the wall, looking down at his phone. Elsa passed by undetected, but he sensed an intruder, and glared directly at Ariel, still frozen in his position. She looked back, eyes wide with fear, as he tracked her with his death stare. She sped up closer to Elsa so she was within the protective force field that she radiated.

"Hey, is it okay for me to be back here?"

Elsa looked amused. "Yeah of course. This isn't some exclusive fancy club or anything. Have you seen this place?"

Ariel felt dumb for asking. "It's just that guy was giving me an evil look."

Elsa laughed. "No he's harmless. I think. Actually, I don't really know who he is! Does he even work here?" She laughed again.

"You're freaking me out!"

"This way."

She walked up a narrow stairway. It was also dimly lit like the hallway.

"This is kinda creepy. Why is everything so dark?" Ariel asked.

"Yeah isn't it? I guess they can't afford lighting."

"I didn't even know there was an upstairs."

"Yeah this is the bands' lounge." They were at the top of the stairs, and Elsa grabbed the door handle. "This gets stuck," she said before bashing against it with her shoulder.

Everyone in the room turned and looked at the two of them. All the members from all the bands were in the room, and they were all actually lounging!

Elsa introduced Ariel, who was hiding behind her. "Hey guys this is Ariel."

"Hey I know her! We met when I came barreling into her! Sorry about that!" It was the frontman of God Help The Outcasts; Ariel forgot his name. He was sitting with his arm stretched across the top of the couch, across the person next to him, who was Esmeralda; Ariel remembered her name. She was sitting with her arms crossed and exposed legs crossed, and she was bouncing her loose gold anklet by shaking her bare foot, which was black on the bottom. _Are they a couple?_

"What?" Elsa looked at Ariel, letting out a laugh.

"Well you guys had already started, but I was still outside! So I was sprinting in and she popped out of the bathroom and I ran straight into her." He smacked his hands together. He looked at Ariel. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, yeah!"

Elsa shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Goodness." She turned to Ariel again. "Okay, well, that's it for your tour." She laughed. "So I need your help carrying the gear to the van."

Elsa grinned as she watched Ariel's stunned face. Ariel jokingly gasped, "You used me!"

Elsa burst into snorting laughter. The two of them had the same sense of humor, which enabled Ariel to become increasingly comfortable around her. They were already hitting it off and Ariel couldn't be more excited.

"Can you carry this down?" She handed her a thick black heavy guitar case with stickers all over it.

"Wait, just the two of us are carrying all of this stuff down?"

"No the guys are going to help, and Kristoff once he gets his butt up here."

Ariel held onto the case handle while trying to pull open the door that wouldn't budge. "So where do I take this?"

"To the van outside, I'm coming down behind you."

Ariel set the case down so she could use both hands to pull the door open with all her might, tripping backwards when the door flew open and swung and hit the wall, the knob embedding into it.

"Oh shii-" Ariel put her hand over her mouth. "Did I do that?" She turned around but nobody was paying attention to her, they were all glued to their phones.

Elsa was wrapping the cord to a microphone in a circle around her hand and elbow, and placing it in a pouch. She quickly looked back before resuming what she was doing. "No it was already like that."

"Oh okay." She picked the guitar case up and started to head down the stairs.

Ariel accidentally bashed the end of the case against the railing of the narrow stairs. Nobody saw. _I'm so clumsy._ The steps were black, and the lightning was awful. Ariel put her foot out when she reached what she thought was the final step, but there was air instead of ground, and she plummeted to the floor, the guitar bouncing with her.

"Oh my god are you okay? What happened?" Elsa was at the top of the stairs with bags in each hand, looking down, smiling.

She quickly stood up and picked the case up, "I'm so sorry, I'll pay for any damage I did."

Elsa laughed some more. "I'm more concerned about your damage."

Ariel felt her face get hot. She then noticed the guard had been staring at her the entire time. She held the case to her chest like a shield, and scurried past him, trying to avoid his laser eyes. She walked down the hall and stopped when she reached the merchandise stand, where Kristoff still was.

"Oh hey you don't have to help with that," he said.

Ariel began to speak but Elsa caught up and barked, "Kristoff stop counting the money and come and help us."

"It's been a good night." He fanned himself with the money. "Looks like we have enough for dessert!"

Elsa continued walking to the front and Ariel followed. Elsa kicked open the door's crash bar with her foot. It was now night and the air was nice and cool.

"Ahhh it feels so nice, I can finally breathe!" Ariel took a deep breath.

"I know it's my favorite part of leaving."

There were only a few people left scattered around.

Ariel and Elsa walked to the white van with the snowman plush on the dash. "Oh this is your guys' van? I parked right next to you!"

"Oh, nice."

Elsa opened the two back doors of the van, and tossed the bags inside, before grabbing the hard case from Ariel and sliding it in.

The other band members were pushing a large box with wheels on it.

"What's that?" Ariel asked.

"That's Kristoff drum set, which _he_ should be pushing! But, whatever. We can just wait in the car for him. She opened the door and hopped in the driver's seat. "Get in."

Ariel reached for the side door behind the driver's door.

"No get in the passenger seat."

"Oh." Ariel walked around the front of the car and climbed into the van. "Am I driving with you guys? Should I leave just leave my car here? It's my dad's and he'll kill me if something happens to it." She closed the door.

"Yeah they never check. So, where are you from?"

"Atlantica."

"Oh really? I've been there before. It's not too far away."

"Where are you from?"

Elsa pulled open a bag of chips, and pointed to the ground. "This is my hometown." She shoved a fistful of chips into her face. She moved the bag over to Ariel.

"Really? Oh, no thanks."

"Just try some," she mumbled with a full mouth.

"I'm not really hungry."

Elsa shook the bag. "Come on they're good." Bits of chip sprayed from her lips.

Ariel tittered. "Didn't your mother teach you not to talk with-" She caught herself, but the words were already said. Elsa fell silent, and looked forward at the dash, only the crunching of the chips audible. Ariel tried to shift into damage control, defusing the situation with humor. "Okay I'll try one of your stupid chips." She didn't wait for Elsa to offer and reached over, shuffling around in the bag, and grabbed a single chip between her fingers. Elsa was still looking at the dashboard but was smiling again. "Mmmm! This is really good! I'll have another one please." Elsa held the bag out for her. "What kind are these?"

"Chicken and waffles."

"What!? Ewww! Are you serious?" Elsa turned the bag to prove it. Sure enough there was a picture of fried chicken and a waffle, complete with maple syrup and butter topping. "That's so bizarre," she said, yet she reached for more.

"You want a water?"

"Oh my god yes! I am so dehydrated."

Elsa got up and reached in the back. Ariel turned her head to the left and was met with Elsa's ass, which had denim tightly stretched over it. Her white shirt fell up her back, revealing her dimples of Venus. She averted her eyes and turned away, looking out the window to see if anyone was around. She couldn't resist the force to turn back, but by then Elsa was already back in her seat. Ariel was staring at the Elsa's unclad stomach through the large arm holes of her t-shirt that looked like she cut herself. She didn't realize a water bottle was being held out for her. "Oh! Thank you." Ariel hoped Elsa couldn't tell she was inappropriately eye-balling her.

"You think this is too revealing?" Elsa asked. _Oh shit. She saw.  
_

"Oh no!" Ariel asserted with bias. "I think it's cool." She tried to change the subject yet again. "I was just wondering what that means." She wagged her finger at her own chest. "Girls scout."

"Oh, it's a riot grrrl band."

"Riot girl?"

"Yeah it was a feminist punk movement from the 90s, but there's some modern ones too."

"That sounds awesome."

"I'm gonna kill him."

"What?"

Elsa started flashing the high beams of the van, illuminating Kristoff and Esmeralda, who were talking to each other outside. Kristoff shielded his eyes from the blinding lights. He shrugged his shoulders and threw his hand forward.

"What's wrong?"

Elsa sighed. "Nothing, it's just he's dating my sister, and there he is, flirting with that girl."

"I don't know, it seems innocent enough."

Elsa signed again. "No I know. I'm just overprotective of my sister. He would never hurt her, at least not before I hurt him." She clenched her fist.

"Yikes."

"I'm just joking."

"I'm not so sure," Ariel said. Elsa gave Ariel a smug look. "Hey is she dating that guy, I forgot his name, the one that crashed into me."

"Oh, Clopin?"

"Yeah."

Elsa laughed. "No no, I'm pretty sure they're cousins."

"Oh!" Ariel felt ridiculous and slightly ashamed for inquiring, since it was kind of for selfish reasons.

"Hey that's my spot!" Kristoff called out as he approached the van.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ariel started to get up before Elsa pushed her back down.

"He'll live. You guys ready?" she asked him through the open window.

"Yeah just about."

"Wait, have you seen my sweatshirt?" Elsa asked.

"I think you left it on the speaker on the stage." Ariel remembered the scene vividly.

"Oh damn. Here come with me." She jumped out of the van and ran inside, and Ariel hesitantly trailed behind.

Ariel re-entered the hot, humid building.

"Hey! How's it going?" a loud voice called out to her. It was Esmeralda's uncle.

"Hi!"

"So, what'd you think?"

"They were awesome! Really I was impressed!"

"That's fantastic." He smiled widely. Right then Esmeralda passed by. "Hey! There's my little rockstar. Get over here." She shrugged him off and continued walking. "Man, so cold."

Elsa came running by, "Okay, got it. Let's go."

"Oh are you coming to eat with us?"

"I am!"

"Great! Then I'll see you there!"

"Okay, bye-oomph" Elsa yanked her arm.

Kristoff was in the driver's seat of the van, waiting with the engine idling. Somebody else was in the passenger seat.

"I'm driving," he declared.

"Whatever, let's just get in the back," Elsa told Ariel as she opened the door for her.

"Oh, okay," Ariel said.

Everything felt unreal.


	3. Pulsating Glow

The van cruised along.

There were three rows of seating. The driver and passenger seat in the front, two seats behind those with their own doors, and a third, long row that you had to climb through the middle chairs to reach. The very back was used to store the music equipment.

There was trash all over the floor, and Ariel crunched on empty snack wrappers when she climbed into the back. There was also a heap of pillows and blankets in the usually unoccupied sixth seat that Elsa scooped up and rolled over the top to the back. She slapped the newly available spot, beckoning Ariel to sit, but there was a loud crackling sound instead of the expected thump. Elsa brushed the empty packets onto the floor. "There you go."

Ariel giggled. "Were those your waffle chips?"

"I've got a problem."

The van continued cruising.

The guy sitting in the chair diagonal from Ariel turned around and leaned on the fancy foldable arm rest. "Ariel, was it? My name's Mark." He extended his arm for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you. I thought the piano was super good. Wait, you're the keyboardist right?"

He lit up. "Yes! You really think so?! Thank you!"

"Yeah!"

"Are you from around here?"

"Atlantica," Elsa answered.

"What? How do you know?" He became slightly annoyed.

"Because we talked."

"Is that true?" he asked Ariel.

"Yes," Elsa answered.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Give it up, she's taken."

"Is that true?" He asked Ariel again.

"It is," Elsa maintained.

Ariel just sat there, very confused.

"Geez. I wasn't going to ask her out. I was just trying to be friendly." He turned to Ariel. "I really wasn't. I don't know what her problem is."

Ariel began to speak. "I-"

"She accepts your apology."

"I can talk myself!"

"I'm just messing with you," Elsa said.

Mark turned around and shouted at Kristoff, "Hey can we listen to something else?!" Smooth jazz was humming out of the speakers.

"No. I like this." He turned the dial all the way up, and the speakers started to rattle.

"Turn it down!"

"Whoever's driving has the power!" He had to shout over the deafening blaring of a groovy sax.

During this commotion, Ariel looked to Elsa to try and decipher her perplexing actions. However Elsa's attention was focused on the front of the van. Ariel thought about getting her attention by tapping her arm, or even her hand, but decided against it when Elsa unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up between the two middle seats, leaning forward. Though her butt was again at eye level, it was too dark to look even if Ariel wanted too. She did. And she tried.

"Hey! Come on! Send it back here!" Elsa shouted.

Kristoff picked up the iPod and blindly hurled it over his shoulder. He might've given a warning but Ariel couldn't hear it. The music player flew backwards with the cord still attached, like a life ring on rope being tossed into the sea.

Mark and Elsa fought to catch it, with Elsa prevailing. She sat down, pleased, but this time in the middle seat directly next to Ariel. She rubbed her thumb counter-clockwise on the device, turning the volume down. "Whatcha wannna listen to?"

Ariel couldn't even process a response. She had so much on her mind.

Mark yanked the cord out of the iPod and the music stopped.

"Hey what'd you do that for?!"

"It's my turn to pick!"

"I am letting the guest choose!"

"You know what to do when there's a dispute!" Kristoff called out.

"No, Ariel's picking. Here." She put the iPod in Ariel's hands. "Give me the cord."

Ariel held out the source of conflict. "I don't want to pick anything. I thought the jazz was kind of nice."

"Thank you!" Kristoff hollered, looking back at her in the rearview mirror.

"Fine, I'll pick." Elsa ripped the music player out of her hands.

"Put it on shuffle!" Kristoff advised. "Shuffle!" he demanded. "Okay that's it I'm turning the radio on."

Ariel found it amusing being in midst of this sibling-like bickering.

"Wait I want to show her some riot grrrl songs."

"No! I don't want to listen to that!" Mark whined.

"Then put some headphones on!"

Kristoff cranked the radio on to drown out the voices. He sang along to Top 40 pop songs.

Looking down at the iPod, scrolling through songs, Elsa spoke to Ariel. "I'll show you later when it's just us."

Ariel swallowed, and looked at Elsa's face, which was illuminated by the glow of the backlight, with widened eyes, barely uttering, "Okay."

She felt like she should say something to her.

"Are you wearing a seatbelt?" she asked.

But that's not what she wanted to say.

"Oh yeah how dangerous. Thanks." Ariel cursed herself when the warmth from Elsa's body evaporated as she scooted away from her over to her original seat.

_"Just us"? "When"? "Show"? "I'll"? "You"? "It"?!_ Ariel mind went crazy as she analyzed her words. _Calm down, I'm reading too much into it. I'm sure it's perfectly innocent. But what's if it's not?! This is moving way too fast!_

She wanted to say something else.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"So where are we going anyways?"

That's also not what she wanted to say.

"Galleons Lap!" Kristoff answered from the front.

Ariel thought she was talking pretty low, but apparently everybody could hear them despite feeling like she was so far back. She was suddenly glad she didn't say anything embarrassing.

"What kind of restaurant is it?" She asked him.

"A pizza joint!" Elsa exclaimed. "It's my favorite place!"

In this van it didn't matter who the questions were directed to, since answering was a free-for-all.

"They have this gigantic monster-sized pizza that's like this big. That's what we're going to get." Two hands popped out from the seat in front of Ariel, showing her a rough estimate of the size. She had forgotten about the others in the car because she couldn't see them from where she was sitting.

"Wow!"

"Yeah and the whole place has this wood, forest theme. It's so cool, you're going to love it." Elsa waved her hands around.

"Sounds enchanting!"

"Yes! That's the word!"

"How far away is it?"

"It's like thirty minutes away, but we should be there by now." She looked out the window. "Yeah almost."

Ariel looked over at Elsa, who was still staring out the window. The freeway lamps pulsating her face a yellow glow, highlighting her long eyelashes, her lavender eyelids, her soft, rose lips. At least, Ariel imagined they were soft.

Ariel flinched and looked away when Elsa called out, "Ooo, turn it up," breaking her daze. That seemed to happen a lot around her. But in truth, it was never really broken, for she had Ariel under a constant spell, with no hope of escaping.

* * *

The van rolled into the parking lot, and Kristoff cut the engine. The interior lights automatically popped on when everyone opened their doors at once and eagerly jumped out. Three doors slammed shut in sequence, with the fourth one left open for the two remaining girls, who were alone in the backseat. This was the perfect opportunity to say something.

Elsa unbuckled her seatbelt and started to get up. "Hey Elsa, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, of course! What is it?"

"Are you guys coming?" Mark asked, looking in.

"We'll be in in a minute. Just close the door."

Without questioning, he did as she said.

Ariel felt this was becoming increasingly serious and she started getting uncomfortable.

Elsa sat back down and just smiled at her, waiting for her question.

"Oh. I was just going to say, I'm actually...um...not seeing anyone...right now." Ariel felt she had to let that be known, but she was still being cautious.

Elsa looked at her for a moment, before saying, "Oh yeah, I just said that earlier so he would stop bugging you."

"Oh." Ariel was disappointed with her reason.

"Unless you were interested?"

"No! No no I wasn't. I'm not. I'm not interested..." _I'm interested in you! Because I'm gayyyyyyyyyy!_

Elsa laughed. "Alright alright, I believe you! But really? No one? I'm surprised. Aren't people lining up for you?"

Ariel laughed nervously and looked away. "What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"I'm not either."

"Oh? Now I'm surprised."

"Why?"

Ariel wasn't expecting her to ask that. She thought her implication was clear.

"Why? Because..." She tried keep the vast array of compliments in her arsenal from bursting out all at once. She kept it toned down. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"Actually, I haven't."

"You mean you just naturally look this beautiful?! I'm so jealous. I'm all sweaty and gross and my hair is a mess and yours is all perfect and...perfect," she gushed, probably going overboard.

"No, so am I. That's also why I wear this shirt." She grabbed the fabric at her chest and repeatedly pulled it. "It keeps me nice and cool." Ariel made a conscious effort to maintain eye contact as she flapped her shirt. "And besides, I wasn't the one going crazy in the mosh pit."

"Oh god, you saw me?"

"Yeah! You were dominating! You were a badass!"

Ariel put her hand on her face. "How embarrassing."

Elsa laughed. "Okay, I'm starving. We'll continue this conversation later." She got up and started to exit, opening the door.

Ariel was still wearing her seatbelt. She pushed the red eject button but it wouldn't release. "Uh, Elsa?"

Elsa turned around and saw Ariel struggling to escape from the seatbelt. "Good grief, what would you do without me? No, I'm kidding, this one gets stuck." She bent down over Ariel and her hair fell in front of her face. Ariel inhaled Elsa's scent like a drug. Would Elsa disown her trying a drug? She only tried it once. She was weak. Elsa was explaining the trick to releasing the buckle, but Ariel couldn't hear what she was saying. She didn't want to be released. She wanted to reach her hand up and pull Elsa down on top of her. She wanted to put her hand on the skin of her lower back, and guide her to her own lap, while pulling her thigh in close to her. She wanted to pull her neck down, and plant her lips onto hers, before pushing her tongue into her mouth. She wanted to reach her hands through the dropped arm holes of her t-shirt, and run her fingertips up the curve of her sides, before grabbing the bandeau with her fingernails to pull it down, releasing what was hiding underneath. Those were some things she wanted released. She then wanted to take her hands and-

"Okay, done." _But I'm not._ Elsa released her, but she also didn't. Ariel was still strapped in.

They got out of the van, which was much hotter than outside, or maybe it was just Ariel.

Elsa put her arm around Ariel's shoulder as they walked forward to the restaurant. "By the way you're gorgeous too and you know it." She poked her shoulder. "And I never would've guessed you just came from a sweaty mass of bodies. But don't worry, I'm here to fight off everyone who tries to hit on you!" She imitated a fencing sword.

"Okay, good," Ariel smiled.


	4. Multiplayer

The pizza restaurant was located on top of a hill, and was surrounded by many different types of tall trees: beech, pedunculate and sessile oak, Scots pine, and even some silver birch. Ariel didn't know anything about trees, but there was a plaque inside detailing the history of the establishment and lots of trivia about trees. The building looked like a log cabin, with the gabled roof and the chimney emitting billowing smoke, but with a modern aesthetic. It had enormous glass windows, lined with brushed steel, letting off a warm bloom. On the front of the building was the name, "Galeons Lap," in metal calligraphy, with a honey-yellow backlit glow. The entrance was two tall panes of glass framed with wood, with steel door handles crossing at a slant.

Elsa took her arm off of Ariel's shoulder as they approached the entryway.

"There you guys are. We're still waiting for the others," Kristoff greeted them.

The building was bustling with activity. There was a thick, towering, bare tree in the middle of the room, reaching all the way to the ceiling. She didn't know whether it was real or fake, but it had light ornaments suspended from it. The counter where you ordered had a large sheet of glass over the front with decorative sticks and twigs stacked inside. Behind it was a grand, slick, black pizza oven, with piles of logs surrounding it. There were many busy workers pacing about and airborne spinning discs of dough.

"Wow you're right, I do love this place."

The guys were sitting on a dark brown booth by the front counter, arguing about something. Elsa went and sat with them and Ariel followed her.

"Elsa, do they still make DunkAroos?" Kristoff looked annoyed.

"No, I don't think so."

"See I told you!"

Ariel interjected. "Those were so good! I loved the frosting. When I was done with the cookies I would scoop the rest out with my finger."

Elsa lightly hit Ariel's arm with the back of her hand. "Yeah me too! Aw man, those sound really good.. Arrrrgh, are they really gone?"

"No! I saw them with my own eyes! With a new box design and everything." Mark piped in.

"I don't believe it." Kristoff sat back and crossed his arms.

"Chocolate also sounds really good right now." Ariel added.

"It's because of the color of this booth isn't it?!" Elsa squished the cushion in-between her legs.

"Yes!"

"It looks just like it! I wanna take a bite out it!" Elsa squeezed the cushion. "Ooh I know! After this, we'll go to the store and get a huge big bag of it, the party size, and we'll try to find some DunkAroos too! You want to!?" Elsa started excitedly poking Ariel's knee.

Ariel thought it was cute how giddy she was getting, but it was contagious. "Yeah! Let's go!"

Elsa started laughing. "Okay, let's eat first. Then we'll go."

"Oh, right." Ariel embarrassingly looked over at the guys, who were all smiling at the two of them.

Elsa noticed it too. "What?"

"Nothing! It's just funny watching you two go nuts."

Elsa turned back to Ariel. "What about chocolate with almonds?"

"I love it!"

"We'll get that too."

Kristoff and the others started laughing.

"We're here!" Esmeralda's uncle announced as they all walked in the door. Ariel couldn't help but noticed she wasn't with them.

"Did you guys order yet?" Cloplin asked.

"No we were waiting for you," Kristoff said.

"Hey what kind of pizza do you want?" Elsa asked Ariel.

"I'm fine with anything."

"Just tell me what your favorite topping is."

"I'll have whatever you guys are getting."

"Well they usually get the supreme or Hawaiian, but I just like cheese."

"Me too!"

"Really?!" Elsa started getting excited again. "Perfect, then me and you will share one!" Elsa then broadcasted to the group, "Me and Ariel are going to get our own pizza."

Ariel felt strangely special.

"Okay, so how many people do we have?" Kristoff started counting the heads.

"We got two more coming," Clopin said.

"Okay, so 13? How hungry is everyone?"

"Starving!" The uncle slapped his giant gut with both hands.

"Then we'll get four of the giant ones, and I guess three baskets of breadsticks?"

Ariel spoke to Elsa. "Hey, I have some money." She began to reach for her wallet.

Elsa slapped Ariel's hand reaching for her back pocket. Any closer and she might've slapped something else. "Put that away! Don't be silly."

The doors opened. This time a tall, handsome, blonde man with a matching blonde beard strolled in with Esmeralda, who was still walking on bare feet. Ariel's chocolate craving intensified.

Ariel leaned in to Elsa's ear. "Who's that?"

"The boyfriend."

"Don't you have to wear shoes in here?"

Elsa smiled while nodding her head, signaling for Ariel to be quiet by placing her finger on her lips.

Kristoff placed the order. The total was over 100 dollars.

"Are you sure you don't need money?"

"Yes!" Elsa handed her a glass.

Everybody congregated around the beverage bar, filling their cups with liquid from the myriad of options—soda, tea, juice, lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate, water—all with numerous variants to choose from.

Ariel and Elsa's glasses clanked when they both went for the same nozzle.

"You like raspberry tea too?!" Elsa seemed surprised.

"It's my favorite!"

Elsa pushed her glass against the dispenser lever, filling the glass. "Nobody else likes it but me." She filled the cup too high and the liquid ran down the sides. She sipped some off the top.

Then Ariel activated the lever the tea streamed into her cup. "Really? Yeah my...I had a friend who didn't care for it either. Only liked coffee." Ariel wasn't paying attention and the tea also started overflowing even worse, running down her hand.

Elsa started laughing. "Gosh what's wrong with us we're making a mess." She grabbed some napkins to soak up the spilled liquid off the counter. "I've never been a coffee person." She handed some to Ariel for her dripping wet hand.

"Yeah me neither. But I like coffee ice cream."

"I love coffee ice cream! Now I'm craving that too. Add that to the list."

Ariel giggled. "We're going to get sick."

The two of them walked to the rest of the group, who were pushing two tables together. "It's nice to have someone who likes all the same things," Elsa said.

Everyone started claiming their spot at the table, with small cliques naturally forming. Kristoff pulled out the chair next to Esmeralda. Elsa put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sitting here."

"You can sit right here." He pushed the chair next to him.

"No, I want to sit here." She patted his shoulder on the side. "Come on, scoot."

He turned around and looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. "Elsa. It's fine."

She looked irked. She went to pull out the chair next him, but somebody else began sitting down.

Ariel tapped Elsa's shoulder. "Hey, there's a spot over there at the end."

Elsa didn't say anything but followed her suggestion and walked over to the empty chairs. They sat down. Mark pulled out the last chair next to Ariel.

"Mark go sit somewhere else."

"What? Why?!"

"I don't want you harassing Ariel."

Ariel muttered to Elsa, "It's okay."

He looked shocked. Then he looked concerned as he asked Ariel, "I'm so sorry, am I bugging you?"

"No! Not at all, I don't know why she's...I didn't ask her to..."

"I'll go somewhere else." He began to sit up.

"No no! It's okay, really."

"She's not here to date." Elsa said firmly.

"Yes. Got it Elsa. Thanks."

Ariel hissed her name. "Elsa. It's okay!" Ariel turned in her chair and reached out for his arm. "I want you to sit here." He looked at her hand touching his arm. She pulled it away. "I'm sorry."

"No, it was nice."

He was interested in her. She looked up at him, and then awkwardly looked away. Regret fell over his face. "I'm going to go."

Ariel looked at Elsa, and could see a blurry image of Mark walking away behind her. Elsa gave her an I-told-you-so look. Ariel just smiled and rolled her eyes up into her head and sighed.

Across the table was Esmeralda's uncle. He seemed to be waiting for the little scene to end before talking. "I don't think I properly introduced myself. My name's Bernard." He reached his hand over the table, bumping the condiment rack. "Oops."

"I'm Ariel."

"Nice to finally meet you. Properly, that is. So what city you from Ariel?"

"Atlantica." Elsa answered for her. She looked at Ariel who was smiling while looking forward at Bernard but at Elsa in the corner of her eye.

"What? How do you know?"

Elsa's stifled laugher vibrated out of her lips. "Because we talked." The two of them burst into laughter at the same time over the repeated scene. Ariel tried to suppress her laughter with her hand but Elsa let hers freely escape.

The contagion spread across the table and Bernard chuckled. "I guess that was a stupid question." He waited for the girls to finish cackling and for Ariel to wipe the droplets of moisture from her eyes before continuing. "I've never seen you around. How long have you two been friends?"

Ariel finally caught her breath. "We actually just met tonight."

"Really? It seems like you're best friends."

Neither of them said anything.

A large pizza on a dark wooden tray came floating down from above and was placed on a black metal stand on the table. The cheese, green peppers, onions, and pepperonis shimmered in the light, and steam twirled from the center.

Another, smaller pizza, sans toppings, was set in the middle of the table.

"That one's ours, pass it down." Elsa waved her hand towards her.

"Ah ah ah! Hot!" Clopin picked up the tray and handed it to her.

Elsa plopped it down in between her and Ariel. "All to ourselves!"

"It looks good!"

Elsa took the serving spatula and lifted a slice up. The melted cheese slid clean off, landing in a lump atop the other slices below. Ariel giggled. "I guess I'll take take this one." She flicked the spatula and the slice landed on the big white plate, splattering sauce all over it. She reclaimed her lump of cheese by scooping it up with the spatula.

"Ewww." Ariel laughed.

Elsa was grinning. "It's too delicious to give up!" She placed a plate in front of Ariel. "How many slices do you want? Three? Four? Five? Ten?"

"I think there's only eight total."

"You want all eight? It's okay, I understand, I won't judge."

Ariel giggled. "No!"

"Then we'll each have four? Sound good?"

"You can take as many as you want."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

"But I mean, you paid for it."

"Kristoff paid for it. Okay, I'm not playing this stupid game. Just eat as much as you want without worrying about stupid things like money. We have breadsticks too. Ooh those look good." She picked up the entire basket.

"You can't hog them all! You have to share. I'm sure Bernard wants some."

"What are you implying? He placed his hand on his pot belly.

"Oh..I didn't-"

He let out his signature guffaw. "Relax, I'm joking."

Elsa stuffed her face with bread.

* * *

One slice remained. It was technically Ariel's, but she was so full. Even Elsa was too full to eat it.

"I'll take it!" Bernard snatched it up and crammed it down his throat without even tasting it.

On the opposite side of the table, to the left, was Kristoff, Esmeralda, and Esmeralda's boyfriend. The girl between the two blonde men seemed upset with the one she was dating. They didn't say a word. She was saying plenty of words, however, to the more built blonde man, Kristoff. Perhaps those muscles were from all that ferocious drumming. The bearded blonde might not have been as wide as Kristoff, but he was much taller. Kristoff had his beefy forearm on the table and was turned towards Esmeralda, who was leaning back with her arms crossed, which was seemingly a favorite pose of hers. She was all mirthful when he was talking to her. He would say something to her with a smile stretched wide, and her curls and chest would jiggle in response. But whenever she caught a glimpse of her lover, her grin would perish and she would scowl. The boyfriend didn't seem to mind, or was oblivious to the flirting that was very clearly happening. Without prior information, Ariel would've mistaken Esmeralda and Kristoff for a couple. She now understood Elsa's concern.

Ariel was startled when Elsa tapped her knee. She looked at her. Elsa nodded her head to the side, and Ariel just continued staring at her wide-eyed. She got up and started walking away and Ariel watched her. Elsa discreetly signaled for her to follow. Ariel briskly sat up, which pushed her chair back and made a loud screeching sound. Everyone turned and looked, except Kristoff and Esmeralda, who were too busy laughing together.

"Where are you guys going?" Clopin asked.

"I'm going to show her my high score." Elsa answered, putting slight emphasis on high score.

He knowingly smiled.

Ariel became nervous. She stood still, looking at the table of people staring back. Elsa grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

Halfway to wherever she was headed, she let go of her arm, which made Ariel sad. She enjoyed being pulled around by Elsa.

She followed behind Elsa, admiring her magnificently braided hair, as well as her magnificent figure. She very much wanted to hug her from behind, and bury her face into her neck. She very much wanted to squeeze any part of her. She wasn't picky, she'll squeeze anything.

Ariel's nervousness increased when they rounded a corner and she realized where she was headed. Elsa opened the restroom door, entered, and started talking, all without turning around.

"Did you see him?! Uggh! He pisses me off so much!" She walked over to the mirror and leaned on the counter. Ariel walked over to her, and Elsa didn't wait for her to ask what she was talking about. "Kristoff! You can't tell me you didn't see him."

"No, I did. You're right. He was totally flirting."

"Great. I was kind of hoping I was just crazy and seeing things."

"Maybe we're both crazy," Ariel said.

"Maybe," she said with a shred of hope. She looked up at herself in the mirror, and then back down at the sink, which had a sleek faucet. "He was all over her!" she reiterated. "They looked like, a freaking éclair!" Ariel smiled at her metaphor. Then Elsa gasped and looked at her and said, "Add it to the list!"

"Already did," Ariel smiled.

Elsa's smile faded away. "Whatever, I guess." Elsa pulled the lever up on the faucet, letting water hiss out, and pushed it back down. "I told Anna about it, but she was completely fine with it. Sometimes I hate how trusting she is."

"Who?"

"My sister."

"Do you really think Kristoff would cheat on her?"

"No. Well, I don't know."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"Yeah. He said he loves her and would never hurt her."

"Well. I don't really know him, but he seems like a nice guy."

"No, he is. It's not that. He's a very nice guy. I don't know. It's nothing he did or has done. I guess it's just me who has the trust issues."

Ariel didn't know what to say. She debated whether or not to put a consoling hand on her shoulder. But then Elsa threw herself up and let out an aggressive sigh. "Whatever. I'm over it. Seriously." She looked at herself in the mirror for real this time. "Oh man why didn't you tell me my hair looked like this?" She flipped her hair back and brushed it with her hand.

"Are you joking? Why didn't you tell me mine looked like this?"

"Shut up. I love your hair and you know it."

Ariel smiled and looked down at the decorative flower on the counter. "Hey...what did you mean by 'high score'?"

"Oh. You like Pac-Man?"

"Yeah! I used to play it on the Sega Genesis."

"You have a Genesis? Oh man! You gotta come over, I have all the old systems. You have to be anywhere? Do you want to come over?"

"Yes," Ariel answered in a _like, duh, of course_ way.

"I mean, not like, spend the night. I mean, well, I guess it's kind of late. I mean you could if you want to, but you don't have to."

"Yes," she said again, this time also nodding her head for emphasis.

"Okay cool. We'll get the candy and all the junk food and then we'll play games all night. It'll be so much fun. And there won't be any stupid guys there either."

"Yes," Ariel mouthed.

"Ahh sorry look at me getting all excited over something dumb." Elsa rolled her eyes but couldn't contain her beaming smile.

"I love it." Ariel wanted to kiss her right then and now, but she didn't want her first kiss to be in a bathroom. Her first real kiss. She wanted it to be magical, like under the stars.

Elsa shifted her attention to the soap dispenser. "I love the foam soap." Elsa squeezed it and filled her hand with a giant puff of thick white fluff. "It smells good too. Smell it." She raised her hand up to Ariel's face.

Ariel leaned in like she was smelling a flower. "You're right. It does-" Elsa flicked her hand up, leaving a white gob of soap on Ariel's nose. Elsa started giggling. Ariel smiled and put on angry eyebrows, quickly pumping the weapon for revenge.

"Okay okay no no no, I'm sorry. Don't! Here." She quickly rinsed the soap off her hands, and rubbed the soap off Ariel's nose with a pinching motion. Ariel puffed out her cheeks and gave Elsa an angry look. Elsa laughed, and popped Ariel's cheeks with her finger. They laughed together.

"Okay let's play Pac-Man. Did I mention they have a machine here? I'll show you." Elsa grabbed Ariel's wrist and whisked her away like whipped cream, which also got added to their list.


	5. Sprinkles

Elsa banged the coin compartment of the arcade cabinet with her fist.

Ariel look around her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Elsa didn't answer. She proceeded to use her fingernails to pry open the small door. A metal box with various wires was attached to the backside of it. She repeatedly pushed down a lever, activating Pac-Man sound effects.

"Hey! That's stealing!"

"Nah it's fine. The manager knows about it."

"Does he really?"

"I don't know."

Ariel gave her another angry pouting look.

Elsa laughed. "What?! Okay, look."

Ariel looked at the attract screen, and saw Ms. Pac-Man and the ghosts moving around a box. "What am I looking at?"

"Just wait."

Eventually, the high score screen appeared, and at the top was a score of 950,485, with Elsa's name next to it. The second score was Kristoff's.

"Wow."

"No, you don't understand, It's kind of a big deal. I stood here for like, hours, on a single game. No one's ever beat it. I set it almost two years ago."

"Wow!"

"I even had to pull up that barstool because my legs got tired."

Ariel smiled at Elsa. She seemed very proud. The glow of the screen lit up her eyes. Little ghosts scrolled over her retinas.

She looked at Ariel. "What?! What are you looking at?"

"You're crazy."

Elsa looked back at the long vertical CRT screen. "Yeah, that's what I feared." She put her hand on the greasy red ball of the joystick. "Well? Want to play?"

"Yeah!"

Elsa slapped the button, and the startup melody chimed.

"Okay, here."

Ariel, stepped in front of the machine, and grabbed the control stick. Ms. Pac-Man started moving very rapidly.

"Why is it going so fast?"

"It's on turbo mode. You haven't played the arcade version?"

"I guess not. It's much faster than the Sega one, but you can push a button to make her go faster and give her that hair."

Elsa bursts out laughing. "Yeah it does look like hair!" Elsa moved in closer to Ariel. Ariel looked down and over at her with her peripheral vision. Ms. Pac-Man ran into the wall, and remained still until a ghost caught her. She started spinning, and so did Ms. Pac-Man.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh...I'm just not used to the joystick." Ariel was thrown into another round, which she continued to play on auto-pilot.

"Watch out!" Elsa put her hand on top of hers, and started controlling for her, and controlling Ariel.

Elsa was laughing but Ariel was staring at the hand gripping hers. The death sound effect rang.

"Well that didn't work." Elsa removed her hand and the heat trailed with it. All Ariel could think about was the sleepover and what could happen.

_"Hey I know a game we can play, and it's multiplayer! Have you played it?"_

_"Not this version."_

Ms. Pac-Man stopped moving again, and waited for a ghost to eat her.

"Hey, you okay?" Elsa asked.

"Um, do you mind if we go outside? I think I need some fresh air."

"Of course."

* * *

The sky was sprinkled with stars.

"Wow, it's so pretty up here." Ariel leaned her head back.

"Hey, you want to walk down to the beach? There's a trail that goes right down there."

"That sounds amazing," Ariel said.

They walked to the edge of the parking lot and Elsa started walking down the grassy hill.

"Oh it's not a real trail is it? One that you made? An off-the-grid path? An off-road path?"

It was dark, but there was enough light from the moon to show Elsa's smile. "No, there's an actual path. With actual cement and everything. Be careful-" Ariel slipped and fell. "-the grass is wet." She laughed. "Are you okay?"

"Eeeee, my butt is all wet. It's so cold."

Elsa offered her hand. As Ariel pulled herself up Elsa lost grip on the grass and fell too. "Auuugh! My back's all soaked, this feels awful!"

Ariel giggled.

"My hands are soaked too." Elsa shook them out and wiped them on the front of her shirt. "Okay, once we get down this hill there's a sidewalk."

"I can't see anything."

"I know. They'll be light once we reach the bottom."

There was a rustling noise coming from the bushes. "What was that? I'm scared. Let's go back."

"We'll be fine," Elsa said.

"Will we?"

"I don't know."

"You're freaking me out!"

"It's okay. I'll protect us."

"Will you?"

"I will."

Elsa and Ariel slid their way down the hill, maintaining their balance by holding up their arms. At the end they hopped onto the pavement.

A single street lamp stood, creating an orange radius that faded into black. There were two ways to go, both of them leading into darkness.

"This way." Elsa started walking to the left.

The pathway was long and winding, and it gradually descended. The light posts were few and far between. The midway points were completely black.

Neither of them said anything the entire walk. Ariel was scared but resisted the urge to grab Elsa's arm. She felt safe just being near her. As they walked, Ariel would occasionally, accidentally veer to the left and bump into Elsa. Elsa didn't say anything, and neither did Ariel. The third time she did it on purpose.

They reached the edge of a very tall cliff, which had a wooden stairway that led directly into the sand. Elsa started down first and Ariel followed her, like she always did.

The only light came from the moon, which reflected off the ocean, dyeing the atmosphere a dark blue-gray.

The steps creaked under their weight. The sound of the beach got louder the further down they went. When Elsa reached the final step, she stopped.

"Do you want to go in the sand?"

"I do."

"Should we take our shoes off?"

"We should."

Ariel sat down on the bumpy, splintery board to untie her laces, but Elsa just used her foot to step on the backs of her shoes. She kicked them into the sand. She lifted her leg back and peeled off her pink ankle socks.

"Your toes are cute."

Elsa looked at her.

"Your nails," Ariel said. They had white nail polish on them.

"Oh, thanks. You painted yours too?"

"No." Ariel held her foot into the air and wiggled her toes.

"Oh. Yeah I don't even know why I did them." She proceeded to walk. "Ow, the rocks are sharp. Be careful."

Ariel finished removing her second shoe, stuffed her socks into them, and quickly ran across the rocky patch of sand until she was alongside Elsa, who had already traveled a considerable distance. She tried to conceal her lack of breath and play it cool. They walked parallel to the water.

"This is nice," Elsa said, looking down at her feet strolling through the sand, sinking with each step.

"It's very nice."

"The water is so calming."

"I know, I love it."

Elsa was silent for a few moments, and then suddenly stopped and turned, and Ariel ran into her.

"Ariel?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad I met you."

"I'm really glad I met _you_ , Elsa!"

"It might sound weird, but you're exactly what I've been looking for."

Ariel looked into Elsa's eyes, which were looking at the sea. Her hair was lightly blowing in the salty breeze. Her face gleamed. Her lips glistened.

This was it. She couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment. They were under the stars, on the beach, in the sand. It was just the two of them; nobody else was around.

"Elsa," Ariel whispered.

When Elsa turned to her, Ariel fell forward, fell into her lips. When they made contact, her entire body tingled. She felt sensational. In that moment, everything made sense. She felt everything in her life had led to this moment. Everything she'd gone through had been for this. And the best part of it all was, Elsa returned the kiss!

But only for a second. Elsa slightly pulled back, a few inches from Ariel's face.

"Ariel..." Elsa's breath tickled Ariel's nose. "I'm...not..."

Ariel was still engulfed in a profusion of ecstasy. Ariel slowly opened her eyes. Elsa wasn't looking back at her, but down at the ground. It took a moment for the high to evaporate and the reality of the situation to come crashing into her.

The delayed projectile of realization caught up to her, piercing her heart, shredding the insides, and exploding out the other side. Fear struck her eyes. Her freshly mangled organ was racing, but now for different reasons. Her breathing increased. She stepped backwards, tripping on her feet and stumbling, kicking up sand.

"I'm so sorry," Ariel let out in a single exhale.

"Ariel."

"I- I have to uh...go, now. It's getting late." She continued to walk backwards.

"You can't, you don't have a car."

Elsa realized her joke didn't work when Ariel's eyes welled up.

"Hey...hey..."

Ariel turned around and started walking quickly through the sand.

"Hey!" Elsa ran up to Ariel, who tried but failed to out-walk her, and put her hand on her shoulder. Ariel stopped. Elsa still had control over her. Ariel looked at the sand.

" _I'm_ so sorry," Elsa said.

"What?"

"I'm so sorry."

"Why?"

"I'm so...sorry..." Elsa didn't know how to phrase it.

"Why? Why are you sorry? You're normal, you shouldn't be sorry."

"Hey!" Elsa smacked her shoulder, and not lightly.

Ariel continued looking at the sand.

"And I'm also so sorry for leading you on, I didn't know," Elsa said.

"Neither did I," Ariel muttered.

Elsa was turned towards Ariel, lowering her head, trying to look at Ariel's fallen face. "Well, maybe I knew when I saw you looking at my butt."

"Oh god, you saw? I'm so sorry I didn't mean too I was tr-"

"No, I didn't! But now I know! You perv!"

"You're so mean!" Ariel smiled and smacked her arm. But her smile vanished as quickly as it came, disappearing for the same reason it appeared. She loved Elsa and her sense of humor. She had so much in common with her. She was exactly what she was looking for, just like Elsa said. They were completely perfect for each other. And she couldn't have any of it. The thought killed her.

"Hey..."

"It's just...It's just..." Ariel gave up and fell down to the ground, burying her face into her bent knees, and hugged her legs.

Elsa fell down with her, without removing her hand from her shoulder or breaking eye-contact. "Talk to me," she said gently.

Ariel lifted her head up, her eyes became salty like the sea in front of her. "It's just...It's just...It's just..." Ariel's lip started trembling.

"Hey, it's okay." Elsa reached out and grabbed Ariel's other shoulder. She tried bringing her in closer but Ariel was locked in a fetal position and wouldn't budge. Elsa started rocking her back-and-forths like a stone statue, trying to tip her towards her. Elsa couldn't help but let out a light-hearted chuckle. She then used her hand to lift Ariel's arms, which were tightly wound around her shins in an attempt to contain her exposed soul, and without any resistance they fell and unraveled like a ribbon, thumping against the sand, giving in to Elsa, the only person with the key and the only person who could so effortlessly unlock her. Elsa pulled Ariel's head in and placed it on her shoulder, oblivious to the power she had over her. She ran her fingers through Ariel's thick hair. "It's okay," she whispered.

Ariel let out a long, deep sigh, more like a moan. She was instantly calmed, and her muscles relaxed. She closed her eyes. "Elsa, no," she breathed inaudibly into Elsa's shoulder.

Elsa didn't hear what she said. "It's okay," she hushed, seeming to understand.

They sat in silence. Elsa continued to stroke Ariel's scalp, while hot breath seeped through the fabric of her t-shirt. The calming pleasure from Elsa's massaging fingernails was making Ariel sleepy. For a moment she forgotten why she was even upset.

There was a loud wave crash, and a white blanket of foam quietly pulled back in. "I love your hair," Elsa casually reminded her. Ariel burrowed her face deeper into Elsa, making the area moist. "Tell me," Elsa requested again in the same calm voice.

Ariel started mumbling into Elsa's shoulder.

"I can't hear you silly."

"I'm such an idiot."

"Shhhhhh," Elsa silenced her. "Tell me," she pressed.

Ariel pulled back and sniffed. "It's just I've never met anyone I had so much in common with. I've never met someone I've enjoyed being around as much as you."

"I feel the same way Ariel." Elsa stopped stroking Ariel's hair and sadness fell over her. "Does this mean we can't be friends?"

Ariel looked at Elsa's face for the first time since she was against it. "You still want to be my friend?"

"Yeah! I was afraid you didn't want to."

"You don't hate me?"

"Oh my god are you serious? Don't be stupid, why? If anything I think you hate me."

"I love you," Ariel blurted.  She looked away. "I'm sorry. It just came out."

"And I love you." Elsa said to her, and then looked away. "I'm...truly sorry...I feel awful. I kind of feel like it's my fault. You can kiss me again if you want to. Maybe you can make me gay, I don't know. If anyone could do it, it would be you." She smiled.

Ariel looked at Elsa and looked at her lips and seriously considered her ridiculous offer. Her ridiculously tempting offer. "No...it doesn't...you can't...I can't...Thank you for the offer."

Elsa stretched her legs out into the sand and leaned back on her arms, and looked out at the ocean. "You're a good kisser."

Ariel smiled, embarrassed.

Elsa continued. "You wouldn't want to be in a relationship with me, trust me. You would end up hating me, I'm sure. I say this with all sincerity. I think it would ruin our friendship."

"You're just-"

"And I'm not just saying that to make you feel better."

Ariel mimicked Elsa and stretched out her legs, slightly turned towards Elsa and leaning against her.

Elsa could only deflect her own problems with humor for so long. "So, you probably think I invited you tonight just to break your heart and make you cry."

"You didn't..."

Elsa looked at Ariel.

"Go on," Ariel said.

Elsa stared into the ocean for a quite a while. She eventually spoke. "I've been trying to find a friend for a long time. I have the guys, but, I've been trying to find a girl friend. I mean, not a-"

"I know what you mean."

"A girl that's a friend."

"I know."

"'Cause I'm always around guys, and I don't have any girls to talk to."

"Esmeralda?"

"No, I tried. It didn't work. Our personalities didn't gel. She's too serious."

"Oh."

"But, when you're friends with a guy...it's like..." She held up her straightened hand, symbolizing a wall. "There's always...it's always there, you know?"

"Sex?"

"Well not just that. Somebody always develops feelings for somebody. I kind of feel like men and women can't just be friends. Somebody will eventually fall for the other."

Ariel looked away. "Like me."

Elsa realized what she was saying. "Oh, no...this is different."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"How?"

"Well, I kind of veered off topic, but my main point was, I just don't have a super strong connection with any of them—don't get me wrong, they're all super nice and we get along for the most part, but it's just...I don't know."

"Have you dated any of them?"

Elsa scoffed and let out a laugh. "Well...no. But, freaking Mark professed his love for me a couple years back when the band first started."

"Seriously?!"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Yeah. In fact he wasn't the only one."

"What?! Who else?!"

"It doesn't matter."

"Kristoff?!"

"No no, he didn't. Though, you wouldn't know it the way he was slobbering all over Esmeralda."

"It wasn't _that_ bad."

"ANYWAYS, so my point—What was it? Did I even have one?—oh, so while they might've had feelings in the beginning, now we're basically like family. I kind of view them as my brothers. I love them and can't stand them at the same time. But...I don't know, I still don't really...I can't really talk to any of them about anything, or rather, I don't feel comfortable talking to them. Maybe that contradicts everything I've been saying."

"No, I understand. I have six sisters, but I still feel so alone."

"Yes!" Elsa exclaimed in a restrained voice. She sat up and crossed her legs, turning her body towards Ariel and grabbed her hand. Elsa stared deep into Ariel's widened eyes. "It's like, even when I'm in a room full of people..."

"...you feel alone," Ariel quietly finished.

Elsa continued staring at Ariel, the light from the moon capturing the mist in her eyes. "Oh my god...where have you been?"

Ariel stared back at Elsa's twinkling eyes, with her mouth open. Ariel was going to ask the same question, but she somehow got the sense that Elsa's had been through more than she had. Elsa continued.

"I've never said this out loud before, but I get depressed sometimes. A lot, actually." Elsa was no longer looking at Ariel, but she was still tightly clutching her hand. It slightly hurt, but Ariel felt she needed it, and didn't say anything.

"Really?" Ariel's response to her confession seemed hollow, but she didn't mean for it to be.

Elsa stared at the dark sky directly above the horizon of the ocean, the hue of the sky and the sea blending together. Her face was serious.

"Some days are worse than others. And I can usually just forget about it when I'm busy with stuff, but it's always kind of there."

Ariel didn't say anything, mainly because she felt her answers wouldn't be adequate. They probably would, but she needed something better than adequate. She just looked at the side of Elsa's face, which was slightly melancholic. She released Ariel's fingers.

"I'm sorry, was I squeezing too hard?"

"I understand," Ariel finally said.

"About the hand?"

"I was very depressed when I was with my boyfriend Eric."

"Boyfriend?"

"And I even thought, what's the point?"

"You had a boyfriend?"

"But then I thought, no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for."

"Hey, that's from a game."

"Yeah, for two years," Ariel finally answered.

"Two years?!"

"Yep."

"I don't understand."

"You think I do?"

"Did you guys...?"

"Yeah."

"What?! Are you serious?"

"Yeah.."

"And it...felt good?"

"...Physically, I guess."

"Oh. Right. That was a dumb question, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine."

"Oh, so that's what your 'rough time' was?"

"Yeah! And you helped me!"

Elsa smiled. "That makes me happy."

"So it's your fault I'm gay!"

Elsa laughed. "I guess it is!"

"I'm kidding."

"So you just recently came out?"

"I guess."

"To your friends and family?"

"No, just Eric. You're the only other person who knows."

"Oh, really? What'd he say? Was he supportive?"

"No..."

"Oh geez, what a jerk."

Ariel chuckled. "Yeah...so I've been reluctant to tell anyone else. Not that there's anyone else to tell."

"You don't have any friends?"

Ariel shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, neither do I!"

Ariel let out a laugh. "Yay!"

Elsa started laughing. "Yay! We're both pathetic!"

They laughed together, and then their laughter trailed off and they both became silent, reflecting on their own lives.

Elsa broke the sad air between them. "But, we're friends, right?"

"Yes."

"Will you be okay?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah." Ariel thought about it a little longer. "Yeah." She looked down, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll be fine."

Elsa looked at her with concern. Though there wasn't much she could say or do. She resorted to placing a hand on her shoulder. Ariel looked up at her.

Elsa then lowered herself down on her back, laying against the sand, looking up at the sky, resting her hands on her chest, letting out a sigh.

Ariel watched her, and then laid down as well. She tilted her head and looked at Elsa. Elsa turned and looked at Ariel for a long while with a calm face. Elsa was pretty no matter the expression.

"I'll help you find someone," Elsa said, still looking at her Ariel.

"I lied. Your shirt is very revealing," Ariel blurted out, without looking away. She felt she had to come clean.

Elsa smiled, amused. "That's okay."

Ariel continued, still looking into her eyes, almost scared of breaking contact. "I love it." Ariel knew she was saying too much as she was saying it. She knew she shouldn't say what she was about to say, and she knew she was jeopardizing their friendship, but she was wondering if such a thing was even possible. Though, she was coming to realize that Elsa needed this friendship more than she did, and it wasn't fair to her to ruin that. But she also realized it was important to be honest with her, because she deserved that. "When you were helping me with the seatbelt, I was fantasizing about..." Ariel got lightheaded, and her gradually healing heart was briskly beating, yet she continued looking at Elsa, who, to Ariel's surprise, had the same amused smile on her face. Ariel started fighting back a grin, the thrill of what she was going to say and the unknown reaction from Elsa gave her an intense rush. "...havvvving...sex...with you." The words were heavy and forbidden and oozing off her lips like molasses. Ariel was breathing through her mouth because she was struggling to take in air. Having her thoughts materialize into actual, unretractable, unfiltered words was a foreign feeling. She wondered if she was actually saying what was saying. There's no way she would say something so crazy, or do something so ridiculous. Right? Was any of this real? Was this all a dream? Nothing made sense anymore.

Elsa's eyes widened, but so did her smile. "Wow!" She laughed "Uh...wow! Yeah, you're right, maybe it does show too much skin," she said while looking down and pulling up on her shirt.

Ariel let out the deepest sigh of the night. "It feels so good to let that out." She started breathing again.

Elsa got a little flustered, something Ariel wasn't expecting. "Um, I'm flattered," she laughed nervously. "I don't know what to say."

"It's hard," Ariel whispered.

Elsa's smile faded. "Oh," she said, looking at Ariel, seeing the struggle in her eyes.

"I feel...it'll always be there..."

"Oh."

"I feel I need to be honest with you."

"I'm glad you are." The two of them kept looking at each other. Then Elsa suddenly asked, "Hey, have you been with a girl before?"

"No. You're my first."

"Awww."

Ariel rolled her eyes.

"Hey, you're mine too!" She reached over and poked her shoulder.

Ariel rolled them again.

"But, I don't want you suffer, you know? I was thinking, maybe if you had someone, you know, it wouldn't be hard."

"You don't have to worry about me."

"But...then you'll be consumed with your new girlfriend and you won't have any time for friends..."

Elsa had her own concerns, Ariel's concern was just trying to get through the night without pouncing Elsa and rolling her around in the sand. Ariel didn't say anything. Elsa continued.

"And even if you make time, she'll get all jealous with you spending time with me, and you'll say 'don't worry she's not gay,' but she'll still be concerned because we kissed."

"Hey, don't think that far in the future! Let's just get through today first."

"I know." Elsa looked up. "I think too much."

"I do too."

"Sometimes I wish there was an off switch," Elsa said.

"It's stuck."

Elsa tilted her head to the side and looked at Ariel and smiled at her.

"What?" Ariel asked.

"I just love you."

"What!"

Elsa cringed. "Ugg I'm sorry, I keep forgetting. I meant-"

"I know."

"You're really special. You deserve someone special."

"Thank you, that means a lot coming from you. But I'm really not. You're the one that's special."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, now we're getting all sappy."

"But I mean it. I think you're an amazing person."

Elsa's eyes rolled back into the forward position. "Thanks, Ariel. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"What?! How could no one have told you before?!

Elsa raised her eyebrows with lowered eyelids and shrugged.

"Well you deserve someone who can appreciate you!" Ariel exclaimed.

"What, like a boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not really looking for that right now. A relationship."

"Oh. Did you recently break up with someone?"

"But you are, so let's find someone for you." Elsa steered the conversation away from herself. Ariel decided not to press. "What do you think of Esmeralda?" Elsa started wiggling her eyebrows.

"Wait, she's...?!"

"Oh, no, I don't know."

"Aw you had me all excited."

Elsa laughed, "So you think she's hot?"

"Oh my goodness, yes! She's so sexy it drives me crazy."

Elsa seemed surprised. "That's so weird."

"What is?"

"Just like, you're going crazy over her like a guy."

"Oh."

"Sorry, that came out wrong. I'm just used to them all going nuts over her, so it's weird seeing someone different attracted to her. I mean, not 'different,' I meant like a 'different type' of person. You'll have to forgive me, I've never had a gay friend. Do you mind me saying that?"

"Hey I haven't either. And nothing you're saying is offending me, but I think it's cute watching you get all nervous."

"Now you're the mean one!"

Ariel made a proud grin.

"Well, anyone else you got your eye on?" Elsa asked.

"Not really no. Oh! There was somebody I saw at the show, she had all these tattoos all over her. And she had red glasses."

"I didn't see her."

"But she was with her boyfriend. At least, I think he was. I was almost going to go up to her and ask. In fact, I had to make a decision between approaching her and seeing you."

Elsa didn't respond immediately. "Maybe you would've had better luck."

Elsa surprised Ariel again with how sensitive she was. "Nooo," she said, arching her brows. The entire night Ariel felt like she was the victim, like she was the one being exposed, but as the night went on, she realized, in a way, Elsa was the one being exposed. Elsa put up a front of coolness, but she was very vulnerable underneath. And if what Elsa said was true, nobody else knew what was underneath. That realization gave Ariel a sudden feeling of responsibility. She was the only person Elsa could talk to. The only person Elsa could confide to. She's only known her for a short while and she's already told her more than anyone else. This thought didn't burden Ariel, it made her feel special, kind of like sharing a pizza, only more serious. However, it was overwhelming, because Ariel had looked up to Elsa. She was looking to her to fix her own problems. And now things were reversed and Elsa was relying on Ariel. It's a feeling of pressure that's making her afraid, afraid she won't be good enough. After all, she's just an average girl! No one has ever needed her! At least, that's how she viewed herself.

"I'm glad I came with you," Ariel finally said. She wasn't sure how long she was silent while lost in thought, hopefully not too long that it came across as doubt. "I don't regret anything. Yeah maybe things didn't happen exactly the way I hoped, but I still don't regret any of it. Not even kissing you. Well, at first I did. But now I don't care. I'm glad I assaulted you."

Elsa cracked a small smile while looking up at the sky, listening to Ariel's consoling words while her hands rested on her own slowly rising and falling chest.

A chilly breeze blew over the sand and through the gap between them. No longer shy, Ariel scooted closer to Elsa. She figured she's come this far without being rejected—even revealing sex fantasies!—so what more will this do? Ariel scooted in some more, though still cautiously, hoping she wasn't being too forward. Elsa looked over at her with a neutral face and lowered eyelids. Pretty, violet eyelids. _My god._ Her eyes always managed stir her up, and it was the closest she had ever seen them, or maybe it just seemed that way with dry vision. Without saying anything, and without changing her expression, Elsa extended her arm onto the sand. Ariel looked at her arm and scooted again, while looking at Elsa to make sure it was alright. She laid right against her and rested the back of her head on Elsa's shoulder. Elsa closed her arm in on Ariel and spread her hand and ran it over Ariel's scalp, more generously this time, until all her fingers were full of her hair, and then slowly pulled her hand up, pulling all of her hair with it. Ariel let out a silent giggle.

"I'm going to steal your color and do mine."

Elsa continued to play with Arie's hair, pulling it up and letting it drop.

"Hey, you're messing it up!" Ariel said playfully.

"I know."

More time passed, and the two of them continued to lay there without saying much. Elsa had stopped playing with Ariel's hair and her hand was now resting on top of her head, with thick weaves of ruby running through her idle fingers.

"I'm so tired," Ariel said.

"I am too."

"It's been a long day."

"I know."

"What time is it? Do you think they're wondering where we are?"

"I don't care."

"Should we call them or something?"

"I left my phone in the van."

"You can use my-"

"Shhh. It doesn't matter." Elsa whispered. "This is peaceful. Let's just fall asleep on the beach. It'll be fun."

"Do you think it's safe?"

"I'm trying not to think so much."

"Okay, you're right."

She was right. She was right about it being peaceful, she was right about it being fun.

Ariel was very comfortable. It was so relaxing being next to Elsa and her soothing body heat, and she loved when she played with her hair. Her eyelids got heavy and she became conscious of the smile on her face. What she told Elsa was true, she had no regrets. The initial pain of unrequited affection was strong, and it still slightly lingers, but she has accepted the reality of the situation, and she's very happy with the way things turned out. And she couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment because she couldn't have imagined such a moment. They were under the stars, on the beach, in the sand. It was just the two of them; nobody else was around. She never wanted it to end.

A bright, blinding white light flashed in her face. Ariel's eyebrows scrunched together, and she covered them with her hand. Groggy from her sleepy state of bliss, from her unreal, slightly surreal, night, she didn't understand what was happening. She didn't understand why the sky was gone, why the stars were gone. She didn't understand who would take this moment away from her, and why they would do something so cruel.

"Girls, the beach is closed."

Ariel sat up, and rubbed her eyes, still unsure who was talking.

"Come on, let's go."

Ariel turned and looked at the source of the light, squinting.

"Have you girls been using?"

Ariel then realized it was a police officer and quickly stood up. "Oh, we didn't know! I'm sorry!" Sand fell from her clothes. Elsa was still laying down. "Elsa wake up we gotta go!" She pulled her arm. Elsa wasn't asleep but looking off with an apathetic but disappointed look. She rose to her feet and let Ariel pull her away.

As Ariel scurried away with Elsa in tow, the officer called out. "Do you girls need a ride?"

Ariel turned around, pulling Elsa around with her. "No, we're okay, thanks."

"Okay, well, it's late, so be careful."

"We will."

Ariel rotated back and Elsa swung around too, staying behind her the entire time while holding onto her hand.

Ariel dragged Elsa through the sand, back to the steps.

"That was kinda scary," Ariel said as she grabbed her shoes and sat down.

"I knew, but I didn't care."

"What?"

"I knew they closed."

"What time is it anyways?" Ariel took out her phone. "Oh my god it's already one in the morning?! And I have all these texts from my dad. He needs to be at work in morning and I have the car." She looked up at Elsa who was looking at her. "I think I better get home now."

"Okay."

Ariel sat down on the wooden steps and slipped her socks on and started tying her shoes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Elsa said.

"Uggh my shoes are full of sand!"

Elsa smiled. "I'm not going to wear my shoes."

"You're going to walk back barefoot?"

"Yeah."

"Like Esmeralda?"

"Yeah."

"Even across the sharp rocks and these wooden steps full of splinters?"

"..."

"I didn't think so." Ariel looked around in the sand, "Where'd you even toss your shoes?"

Elsa shrugged.

"How'd they get way over here?"

"I don't need them."

"What? Yes you do! Don't be silly." Ariel picked up her socks and shook the sand off them. "Here, give me your foot."

Elsa followed her orders and stuck it out. Ariel grabbed it and started brushing the sand off of it.

Elsa started laughing, "Hey stop!"

"Well I wouldn't have to if you weren't so lazy." Ariel held Elsa's foot in her hands, and looked at it, forgetting what she was doing.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

Ariel yanked her foot, and Elsa fell down hard on the sand.

Ariel put her hand on her mouth muffling a laugh. "I'm so sorry!"

Elsa laid sprawled on the ground. "Why."

Ariel grabbed Elsa's hand to pull her up, but it was like pulling dead weight.

"Think you can lift me?" Elsa challenged her.

"No!"

"What are you saying?"

"I can't lift you!"

"Then we can't go," Elsa said.

"Well, at least comply and lift your feet so I can put your shoes on."

"Comply?"

"Yeah." Ariel sat down at Elsa's legs and and picked her feet up, stretched her socks over them, and pushed her shoes on.

"Who talks like that?"

"Someone who's dealing with a stubborn girl."

Elsa puffed out her cheeks. "I wasn't done looking at the stars."

"You can look at them from down there."

Elsa laughed.

"There." Ariel tighten the loop of her laces.

"What does it matter, you know? We're all going to die."

Ariel crawled over to Elsa and laid on her stomach, propping herself on her elbows and resting her chin on her hands. Her face was close to hers and slightly higher up. "I know. You're right. It doesn't matter," Ariel said.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Elsa asked.

"We die?"

"I don't view that as the worst."

"Why not? It's the last possible thing that can happen."

"Yeah but, then at least you won't suffer anymore."

"The people who care will."

"Nobody cares."

"I do."

Elsa turned from the sky to Ariel's face. They were right up next to each, but it wasn't awkward. The physical closeness only strengthened the emotional. With such a short distance their words could safely transmit between them.

In keeping with the tradition of honesty, Ariel was direct. "Hey, Elsa, you haven't thought about..."

Their voices were low.

"Killing myself? Who hasn't."

"But like, you never tried, right?"

"No...I'm too scared."

Ariel subtly nodded her head, understanding.

"I try not to think about it too much," Elsa said.

Ariel pulled her phone out of her pocket, and handed it to Elsa. "You can call me whenever. Even if it's the middle of the night, I'll always pick up. Or just text me. If I don't you can just keep calling until I wake up."

Elsa stared at her.

"What?"

"You're not real."

Ariel coyly rolled her eyes. "I am!"

Elsa looked at the phone and typed her number into it. "Okay, I'll call you tonight right when you doze off."

Ariel shook her head. She took the phone back, and typed something into it herself and handed it back. "Look." It was Elsa's name and a text character heart next to it.

"It's black like my heart," Elsa said.

"Hey!"

Elsa grinned.

"I don't believe that at all, you're the nicest person I've ever met!"

"Ever?"

"Yes!"

"I don't believe _that._ "

"Well, you better!"

"It's already one thirty? Okay, I guess we should go. I actually have this dinner thing tomorrow. That's the responsible thing to do, I guess." She handed her phone back to Ariel, and then stood up.

"Think you can lift me?" Ariel challenged Elsa this time.

Without hesitating Elsa grabbed her hand and pulled with great force, and she came flying to her feet.

"Holy crap you're strong!"

Elsa smirked, "Okay, let's go."

They trekked back up the hill in silence.

When they approached the slippery slope, Ariel said, "Hey, can you not...tell the others, about what happened."

"Don't worry I wasn't planning on it."

"But like, about me. I don't think I'm ready yet for everyone to know. I don't mind you, of course, but...I don't know."

"I completely understand, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

"But you know nobody would care, though. And if they did, I'll take care of them." Elsa punched her hand.

Ariel laughed, "I know, and I believe you, it's just..."

"You don't have to explain." Elsa looked over and nudged her with her elbow. "It'll be our little secret."

"It sounds way worse when you say it like that."

They climbed up the hill, more carefully this time, and at the top everyone was gathered together talking in the parking lot. Kristoff noticed them and threw his hands up. "Where'd you go?!"

She shrugged her shoulders. She continued walking, walking right past the group, who were all staring at her. Ariel thought they were going to stop and talk so she slowed down next to them, but when Elsa kept walking, Ariel looked at them and shrugged before chasing after Elsa.

"Elsa, why are your lips red?" Kristoff asked on behalf of the group.

Elsa quickly touched her lips and then looked at Ariel. "Oh shit," she mouthed.  Without turning around she said, "We went to go get strawberry fruit bars." She quickly shuffled to the van and jumped in, turning around and waving Ariel in, and then slammed the door. The two of them laughed together. "I'm so sorry, that was so unbelievable."

"I didn't even notice the entire time!"

"Is it still there?" Elsa wiped her fingers and looked at them, trying to remove the Ariel's lipstick.

"Yeah a little bit." Ariel used her own fingers and rubbed them against Elsa's lips, without giving it a second thought.

Elsa bashed the ceiling light with her fist, turning it off. "At night you can see in crystal clear with the lights on."

"Oh you're right." Ariel looked out the window, and everyone was staring at the van. "Oh my god..."

"I'm really sorry."

"No it's fine, I'm sorry for embarrassing you,"

"Oh, I couldn't care less," Elsa said. "And they don't really know anything. If they ask I'll maintain the strawberry bar story."

"You don't need to do all that."

"Yeah, I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"Okay, thank you."

Elsa sat down in her spot in the back of the van.

Ariel sat down in the middle seat next to her. "I'm not getting stuck again."

Elsa started wiggling her eyebrows.

Ariel buried her face in her hands. "Oh my god... I don't know why I said that. It's so embarrassing."

"I'm just messing with you. I enjoyed your honesty. I want you to be able to tell me anything, no matter how embarrassing."

"I don't think anything could be more embarrassing than that."

"I can think of a few things."

The lights turned on as the doors opened. Everyone climbed into the van.

"We're not interrupting anything are we?"

Elsa rolled her eyes, "Oh my god."

"I'm being serious!"

"No!"

"Okay, I'm just asking. You guys ready to go?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Kristoff started the engine. "Where am I going?"

"We're taking her back to her car."

"Okay."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Saying what?"

Elsa groaned, "Nothing."

Mark eagerly flipped around with curiosity. "Where did you guys go?" he interrogated.

"I told you," Elsa said, annoyed.

"No you didn't."

"The store."

"What store?"

"I'm not playing this game."

"You went to get strawberry bars? Why didn't you bring us any?"

"We ate the entire box."

"The entire box?"

"Yes, the entire box. It was so delicious, mmmm."

"Are you sure? I just couldn't help noticing Ariel's lipstick is the same color as the strawberry bars."

"What, you think we made out or something?"

"Well, yeah."

"Yep, you got us, we did."

"Really?!'

"No, not really!"

"Oh. I was kinda almost hoping you did...so it would help explain the rejection...both times." he muttered.

Ariel gave Elsa a sad look, empathizing with him in a way perhaps Elsa didn't fully understand.

"Actually..." Ariel started to say, before Elsa hit her knee in the dark. Mark was looking off out the window, and didn't seem to notice. She looked at Elsa who was subtly shaking her head. Mark turned and looked at her, hopeful. "Uh...we actually, went to the beach."

"Oh. Okay, sorry for meddling." He turned around.

She looked at Elsa again, sad his feelings were hurt. Elsa shrugged.

For the rest of the ride, the van was silent, and Kristoff played his smooth jazz.

They pulled up to the venue parking lot, and Ariel's car was the only one there. Ariel got up and exited the vehicle. "Well, thanks for the ride, and the food, I had a lot of fun!"

"No problem, we'll do it again soon," Kristoff said.

Ariel hopped down, and Elsa followed her to her car, even though it was only a few steps away. She stopped in front of the driver door and turned to Elsa. They looked at each other without saying anything, and then Elsa hugged her. It wasn't a casual, goodbye hug. It was a genuine, thank-you hug. It was long and deep and meaningful. Ariel took in her warmth, soaked in her scent. But before she drowned, Elsa asked, "You'll call me?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Yes, of course."

"You didn't give me a fake number right?" Elsa asked.

"What?! No! Wait, you gave me your number!"

"Oh, right."

"Did _you_ give me a fake number?"

Elsa grinned. "No, it's real, sorry."

Elsa finally let her go, and Ariel got into the car.

"You going to be okay driving?"

"Yeah I'll be fine."

"You're not too tired?"

"I'm not."

"Okay." Elsa shut her car door, and Ariel waved through the window, and turned and waved at everyone in the van, before taking off.

She drove the entire car ride home without listening to any music, just the hum of the engine and the hiss of the tires against the road, and also the loud blaring of her thoughts, which were racing, trying to process everything that had happened, replaying every scene, every word.

She pulled into her driveway, and routinely pulled the seat back for her dad. She tiptoed into the house, past her dad who was asleep in the same spot on the couch with the TV still going.

Ariel entered her room, walked towards her bed until her shins hit the mattress, and did a faceplant into her pillow.

With her mind still racing, but with exhaustion overpowering and her body shutting down, she drifted off with one closing thought.

_This can't be hap..._


	6. Sleepy Cyan Eyes

Everything was quiet.

There was a punk band playing loud music and the hallway was filled with people jumping around and pushing each other.

Yet, everything was quiet.

There was a giant 6 foot 8 tall bully in the middle who was swinging his arms into the bystanders. Hey dude, that's not what this is about. Everyone was too intimidated by his size to stop him, myself included, so I moved far away from him.

There was another, more friendly, mosh pit further down the hallway, with people two-stepping to the music. I walked down the hall, which was packed full of people. I turned myself sideways so I could slide pass all the sweating bodies that were pressed against me. Coming at me the opposite way, like a two-lane highway, was a line of people, also turned sideways trying to shimmy through. I rubbed past each of them, but while that was happening, I felt something slide across my stomach. It didn't feel like an accident. It was somebody's hand? Wait, was it that girl?! I turned to look but she was gone. Why is she gone!?

I stand there for a moment and then continue walking. Dance music starts thumping and everyone starts bumping and the DJ starts fist-pumping. I reach the other end of the hall. A girl stood out among the crowd. A different girl. A _different_ girl. Or maybe it was the same girl. She was topless. She had amazing breasts, which were a slightly creamier white than the rest of her already pale skin, and she was doing her own little dance separate from the others, separate from the music. Nobody else seemed to notice the girl was topless, including the girl, the girl without the top. She was not wearing a top! But that wasn't the only reason she stood out. She was also very beautiful.

I found myself near her.

She had short hair, cut in a perfect diagonal straight lines, and it was dyed white. As she slowly danced and rotated around, I noticed a tattoo of text on her back under her right shoulder. I try to read it but I can't make it out. I continue watching her dance. Should I talk to her? I want to talk to her, but I don't know what I should say. Should I start by telling her she's beautiful? No, she already knows, I'm sure. And she doesn't want to hear that. I know I wouldn't. Actually I wouldn't mind if it was coming from her. Maybe I'll ask her what her tattoo means. Yeah, that's good, I'll keep it neutral and try to gauge whether or not she's interested in me. Okay, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go up to her. Here I go. I'm going. My feet aren't moving. Why aren't they moving? She finally completes her rotation and she's now facing me. She looks at me. She looks into my frightened eyes. My reflex is to look away but I can't look away. The girl smiles. She's slowly moving forward, continuing her little dance, bobbing her head to the left and right. Is she coming towards me? She can't be. She is coming towards me! She slowly walks amidst the chaos, which is entirely out of focus. The aperture of my retina is wide and this stunning woman is in my depth of field. My gaze is locked on her and my head slowly pans down as she walks up to me. She's much shorter.

"Hi," she said. To me. Me!

I swallowed and nervously say hi back. I think, I hope.

She introduces herself. I can't hear her name.

"I'm Ariel," I say, as I shake her hand extremely gently, like any more pressure and it'll shatter like glass. I'm no longer aware that she's naked, or rather, I never looked down to check. I'm solely fixated on her beautiful face, and her lowered eyelids, and her seductive smile. She's very cool and relaxed and still moving about, and I'm very hot and stiff and not moving at all.

She's slowly tilting her head from side to side and her hair is swinging with it, tapping her bare shoulders.

She says something but I can't hear her.

"What?"

She stands on her toes to speak into my ear. As I lower my head so she can reach, I notice her feet are bare. She's very close to me now and she speaks through my hair. She smells like a gentle breeze over a field of flowers. "Where are you from, Ariel?" She asks me, in a low voice, almost whispering. Despite the loud music, which is still muffled, I can hear her perfectly, which is weird, because I can't remember her name.

I lean into her ear, and my face brushes against her hair. That's the source of the flowers. I linger for a moment, then I answer her, also in a quiet voice.

"Wow," she mouths. "I've never been there."

I can't hear her but I can read her lips. Why can't I hear anything? She continues talking and I move my head in closer. She puts her hand on my shoulder and her face right up against my head. "You should give me a tour sometime, Ariel."

"Yeah." Ugh, why'd I say that? Why am I so nervous? Why is this pretty girl talking to me? She's still looking at me with sleepy, sexy eyes, and smiling.

She starts lightly tapping my chest. I look around with my eyes, slightly concerned others are watching, though nobody is even aware of us. I also start wondering if she is drunk. She asks me where I'm from and I tell her. Wait, didn't I already tell her this?

"Wow, that's amazing." She seems positively fascinated by everything I say. She then tells me where she's from but I can't hear her again and I'm too nervous to ask her to repeat it. She continues talking to me. "Are you here by yourself?"

"I am."

"Whaaaa!?" She moves in even closer. Her fingertips are tickling my arm. "I don't believe you."

"It's true."

"You're not with anyone?"

"I'm not."

"You're not seeing anyone?"

"Oh, no."

I didn't think her eyes could lower any further. They're so alluring. She raises her chin up towards me and whispers hot breath onto my cheek. "I don't believe you."

The entire time her eyes never leave mine. She's fixated on me and can't see anything else. I'm staring at her and nothing else exists. Her irises are cyan. I was wondering if she's wearing colored contacts, but they seem very natural, the color. It's very subtle and it blends gradually. The color of the ocean.

"Your eyes are amazing." She steals what I was about to say.

"Mine?!" I coyishly avert my complimented eyes.

She lazily speaks and lazily twirls her finger against my collar bone. "Yessssss. They're beautiful."

I look down at her finger and then back up at her eyes still locked on me. My face is getting hot. She's smiling. She's very much enjoying playing with me.

"Your lips are amazing." She looks down at my now open lips and then back at me. "I bet they are amazing." If that's not a request, I don't know what is.

She's right up against me. Her hands are on me. I slowly move my head down and she slowly moves hers up. I slowly move towards her lips, and she slowly moves towards mine. Her eyelids are already almost closed but they slowly fall and cover the remainder of her exotic cyan-infused eyes as she approaches me. I witness this because mine remain open, but only to verify this is actually happening. I lightly make contact against her squishy mouth, and sink into it. She accepts my kiss. She accepts me. She slides her hands against the skin of my neck. She pulls herself in so we're somehow even closer. The jolt of pleasure travels up my face and pulls my eyelids down. The bolt of titillation shoots to my heart and pulls my pulse around. The volt of euphoria pulses throughout my body and pulls me up off the ground. Oh my goodness, yes. This is what I've been waiting for. There's absolutely no hesitation on my end, nor on hers. There's no doubt in my mind she wants me. There's no question this is the right thing.

I squeeze my eyes. No. Please. Not now. _Please don't open. Please..._

Ariel's eyes opened. The girl was gone. Her eyes were no longer rapid, they were staring at the pillow her face was on. She tried closing them again. There's no going back.


	7. Steam of Consciousness on Melancholy Mist

Ariel let out a frustrated groan and hit the bed. She buried her face into the pillow. She wanted to start crying but she couldn't produce any tears, and when she needed the shot of medicating endorphins most.

She tried to go back to sleep so she could go numb, but she wasn't tired. She threw her arm over and slammed her hand against the empty end-table, but her phone was in her pocket from last night. She pulled it out. It was already noon.

She laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. She had nothing to do and no place to be. She would've sat and wallowed in listless apathy and self-pity all day, but her body was anxious to get up, so she rolled off the bed, and headed to the bathroom. Her clothes, along with sand, hit the floor. She waited for the water to warm up and then stepped into the steam. She immerged her head into the water and it became heavy as all her hair soaked up the water and funneled together and cascaded down onto her feet. The hot water was calming.

The heat also warmed up the gears of her mind, rotating the reels of freshly developed film. The scene of the kiss projected onto the mist of her consciousness, stuck on replay, on a never-ending loop she couldn't shut off. However, it would conveniently start over right before the unexpected plot twist no one saw coming. Well, Ariel didn't see it coming.

She sat down on the shower floor, criss-cross style. She let the weight of the water pull her head down. Her hot-red hair draped onto her legs. She decided to play the director's cut of her memories.

"Elsa," Ariel whispered to herself with her eyes closed, water dripping off her eyelashes. This was the only way to view the feature.

When Elsa turned to her, Ariel fell forward, fell into her lips. Elsa pushed back, with her mouth. She pressed forward, with her tongue. She was the only person with the key and the only person who could so effortlessly unlock her. So effortlessly enter her. Elsa held Ariel's head as she kissed her. Thick weaves of ruby ran through her active fingers. Elsa pushed her down to the ground. Ariel sunk into the sand as Elsa dove into her. Elsa grabbed Ariel's shirt and started to lift it up.

"Wait, what if someone sees us?" Ariel asked.

"Shhhhhhh." Elsa put her finger on Ariel's lips, then pulled her finger down, pulling her lower lip with it as she ran it down the center of Ariel's chest, until she reached the bottom of her shirt and pinched the fabric. She pulled it up and over her head and off her arms and threw it into the ocean.

"Hey! Why'd you throw it in the ocean!"

Hot water ran over Ariel's smile. Apparently her adaptation is a romantic-comedy.

Elsa digs her hands into the sand under Ariel's back with a set objective. Then she grabbed her bra from the front and pulled.

"Elsa..." Ariel says as she moves her arms to let her remove it.

She shyly covered her breasts but Elsa takes her wrists and puts them up over her head while seamlessly leaning in for another kiss. Ariel lays back on the wet floor which isn't soft like the sand and re-enacts by extending her free left arm, slightly breaking her immersion as her hand hits the hard tile wall. Elsa then proceeds to unbutton her pants.

"Those too?"

Elsa doesn't say anything as she peels them down, lifting her legs as she pulls them up and off. She then grabs the band of the sole remaining piece.

"Wait, I feel so exposed," Ariel said to Elsa and to herself.

"It's okay. You're so beautiful." She then pulls them off. Ariel's now wearing as much as she is in the shower. Elsa sits on top of her, looking down.

"Don't stare..."

Elsa leans down to help cover her exposed body. Her braid falls down and brushes her neck. Ariel wraps her arms around Elsa's neck as she kisses her. Elsa's fingertips run down Ariel's stomach. Her mouth gasps as Elsa breathes into it. She lays on the shower floor. The pulse of the water beats over her chest. The pulse of her heart beats within her chest. Ariel's fingers are dancing, trying to dull the aching edge. Ariel bites Elsa's lower lip and tugs at it, while Elsa stares into the eyes of the girl she is pushing over the edge.

Ariel puts her hands through the large holes of her shirt that's loosely hanging from her back. She clumsily rubs her hands around her skin and drags her fingertips across her back. She tries to pull her shirt off but Elsa is busy and doesn't comply.

Unable to handle anymore, Ariel pushed Elsa over into the sand so now she's on top of her, but Elsa doesn't let up, and Ariel is released. Released from her fantasy, released from her arousal. Ariel collapsed on top of Elsa.

Ariel collapsed on the shower floor. Breathing hard as her tired hand slid off her thigh and into the pool of raining water. Even in her fantasies, Elsa had power over her.

She laid there for a long time, her breathing gradually slowing to long and deep. How was she ever suppose to hang around Elsa and have innocent thoughts? This saddened her, so she continued to lay, in a mist of melancholy.

The sound of the water running through the pipes and hissing out of the shower head was soothing. So soothing...


	8. Blended Colors of Splashing Light

Ariel woke up. She was still in the shower, but her fingers were all wrinkled, and the water was lukewarm. She lifted her head from a pool of water and her wet hair slopped against her back as she stood up and her head became light.

Ariel got out. She dried her body but not her hair, and pulled on a Nirvana shirt and gym shorts and went back into her room. She lowered large headphones onto her ears and started playing Elsa's music. It sounded different now. It felt surreal that the girl screaming into her ears was the girl she spent the entire night with. It was weird she kissed her. But it also felt strange that they were friends now. It felt very strange.

Ariel stopped listening. She thought about calling Elsa, but what would she say? What would they do? She was still frustrated that she couldn't be with Elsa. It was great having her as a friend, but she wanted more, needed more. She threw her phone against the side of the bed and it bounced back and thumped against the ground, turning the screen on. She noticed she had a new message from the dating site that she never checked. She didn't care at the time, but now...

**"New message from LifeisaBlur:  
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to send that!"**

_What the heck?_

She clicked on the message and was redirected to the website. She had 30 new messages, and 6 of them were from the same person.

She could see a short preview of the message without clicking on them, and they were all more or less the same. 1/3 of them were from men.

" **Hey, your hair is super cool!** "

Ariel rolled her eyes, and almost tossed her phone down, but the 20 pixel image of the girl caught her attention. _She's cute_. She continued reading.

" **How do you get it so bright? I thought about dyeing my hair but I don't think I would look good with such an bright color.**  
**And how are you so sexy?**  
**I'm sorry, I didn't mean to send that!**  
**I just typed it as a joke but accidentally pushed enter! I guess it's my fault for even typing it out -_-;**  
**Oh my gosh I've already sent so many messages. I swear I'm not spaz in real life. Well, maybe I am a little bit. I'm sorry I'm new to this."**

Ariel clicked on her profile. Her main picture was taken herself and there was a colorfully painted wall behind her. The next one was of her holding a chameleon. _Eeeeee, kinda weird. She's still cute._ The last one was of her standing, and it looked like someone was cropped out.

There wasn't much written on her profile. Ariel scrolled down to the music section like she always does, but it was blank.

Ariel tapped her thumbs against the screen.

" **Hey ^^** " Ariel replied.

Almost instantly, she wrote back.

" **Hi! I totally thought you were going to think I was weird.** "

" **Haha, no not at all.**  
**Hey, did you paint that wall in your picture?** " Ariel asked.

" **I did, yeah!** "

" **That's amazing, I'm so impressed.** "

" **Thank you!** "

The conversation continued for quite a while. They mainly talked about their experience on the site.

" **Ugh! I know! I almost deleted it as soon as I joined! But I'm glad I didn't because I wouldn't have found you :)** " the girl said.

Ariel was reminded of the dream. This can't be her. They both had short hair, and kind of looked the same. Though she'd already forgotten half the dream.

" **Hey, I don't want to be too forward,"** Ariel's thumbs moved, " **but would you like to go get a smoothie or something?** "

Maybe it was in light of everything that had happened, maybe it was desperation, but the night with Elsa made her a more confident person and made her more assertive. But it was most likely just desperation.

" **Yeah that would be great!** "

" **Are you doing anything right now?** "

" **Oh, right now? Well, no.** "

" **It's okay, I know it's too sudden.** "

" **No, I want to. Hold on a second.** "

_This is ridiculous. What am I thinking meeting a stranger so suddenly? What if she's crazy? Is this the responsible thing to do? I am an adult now, I need to act like one.  
_

" **Okay. Do you mind if I bring somebody with me? My friend suggested I do that just in case...you're not who you say you are.** "

That thought didn't even occur to Ariel. _Should I ask Elsa to tag along? She seems good at kicking butt._

" **No of course not.** "

" **Where do you want to go?** "

" **I don't know. Do you know that smoothie place at the Kingdom pier?** "

" **Yeah I love that place.** "

" **It's not too far for you right?** "

" **No it's not."**

" **Do you want to meet in like an hour?"**

" **Sounds good :)** "

Ariel looked down at her clothes and scurried around the room. She went into the bathroom and threw her thick wet hair forward and blew hot hair into it, then twisted the remainder of her colour out of its tiny tube and applied it to her lips. _What should I wear? Should I dress up? Wait, is this a date? Did I just set up a date? It's not like we're going to some fancy restaurant._ She decided against the band shirt and instead slid into a shirt she had to button, and then jumped into some jeans that weren't dusted with sand. She looked in the mirror. _Well, better than nothing._

* * *

A hop, skip, and bus ride later, she was at the pier. The bus pulled away and the humid salty hair blew through Ariel's hair. It was slightly windy and chilly. The sky was overcast, and the beach wasn't very populated. She walked up to the smoothie shop, which was crowded no matter the time.

Ariel stood in front. She realized she didn't even get this girl's number. She's been absent-minded lately. Or maybe she always is. Will she be able to recognize her in person? Ariel took out her phone to look at the girl's pictures. She also realized she didn't even know her name. _What am I doing? I'm out of my mind. We're meeting way too fast. I guess it's my fault, though._

She stared at the photo. She had beautiful green eyes, and brown hair that was choppy like she did it herself. She stared at the photo. A guy standing next to her was staring at Ariel staring at the photo. She noticed the guy and quickly shoved her phone into her pocket. He smiled. Ariel moved away. She looked at the peculiar blue mascot on the glass of the smoothie store.

"Hello?"

Ariel turned. The girl hiding in her pocket was now standing right in front of her. A liquid-filled bubble of surreal burst and flooded her mind. She was even more beautiful in person. She was radiant. She was so bright and colorful, with a pink shirt and lavender shorts and green shoes. Her skin was fair like her own, but one dial-click more bronze, which was pronounced by the swooping neck line of her shirt. So absorbed in the vibrant girl, she hardly noticed she was standing with another person. A guy. This threw her mind off balance, and for a second she wondered if this was even the right girl, or if she was even in the right place, or if any of this was even real. She wondered if she made a mistake. She came back into focus. The girl and the guy were looking at her and smiling. She should say something.

"Hi!" Ariel said automatically.

"Hi!" the girl said back.

There was some silence as everyone waited for someone to start talking.

"I didn't get your name. I'm sorry, I don't know why I didn't ask before." the mystery girl said.

"No it's my fault. It's Ariel."

"Ariel? Hi, Ariel! That's such a pretty name. I'm Rapunzel, and this is my friend Eugene."

"Oh, right, your friend." Ariel closed her eyes and shook her head. "I was thinking something else." _Ugh, why'd I say that?_

Rapunzel laughed. "Oh no, he's not...my boyfriend."

"Don't worry she's totally gay, and she's totally into you," Eugene said.

Ariel blushed and made a hushing sound while looking over her shoulders. Even though she was embarrassed she appreciated the reassurance that Rapunzel liked her.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel smacked his arm.

"Okay, I'll leave you guys alone, have fun," he said as he shook his eyebrows.

"Bye Eugene," Rapunzel said, wanting him to leave. He started to walk away, but not without turning around to look at Rapunzel and putting both his thumbs up. She turned back to Ariel. "Sorry about him. He just came as my bodyguard. And he drove me here."

"You two seem close."

"He's a really good friend."

"So, are you hungry?"

"Well, i did have my heart set on a smoothie," Rapunzel said.

"Oh yeah, do you want to go get one?"

"Mhm!"

Ariel and Rapunzel stepped over into the line that was forming next to them.

"So, uh, is this a... Are we on a..." Ariel asked.

"I don't know. Do you want it to be?"

"Do _you_ want it to be?"

"I do."

The two girls smiled and looked away.

"Have you been here before?" Ariel asked.

"Yes, it's so good. Eugene brought me here once."

"Which one are you going to get?"

"The Hala-Kahiki fusion. It has pineapple and mango in it."

"Wow, you know the name and everything? I usually get the mixed berry one. I don't even know what it's called."

They arrived at the Hawaiian-theme register. Rapunzel pronounced the name perfectly while Ariel struggled to say hers.

"Are you two together?" the girl behind the counter asked.

They exchanged more looks. "Yes." Rapunzel declared. "I'll pay for it."

"No, I'm paying." Ariel took out her card and beat Rapunzel to it.

"Then I'm paying for the next thing."

"Alright."

The two girls walked along the uneven beams of wood, with gaps wide enough to see the ocean below.

Ariel looked over at Rapunzel who was sipping the fruit through the clear straw and looking at her feet treading across the wood, trying to avoid stepping on the ocean cracks. "Was Eugene your boyfriend?"

Rapunzel looked at Ariel with her lips still on the straw. "How'd you know?"

"I had a boyfriend too."

"Really? Then I guess it's normal then."

"I think it's nice you guys are still friends."

"He's the sweetest guy ever."

"What'd he say when you told him?"

"He was sad that I was leaving him, but he was very nice about it. I actually think we're better as friends."

"That's really great."

"What about you?"

"No, we're not friends."

"Oh, I'm-"

"It's no big deal. So, what do you do? Like, for fun?"

"Well, I like to paint. And I play guitar, kind of."

"Really? What kind of guitar?"

"Oh, just acoustic, I forgot what the name of it is."

"That's really cool."

"What do you like to do?"

"I really like music. I like going to shows."

"What kind of music?"

"Well I like all kinds of music. I've been listening to a lot of like, hardcore music, lately."

"Oh, me too!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah!"

"What bands do you listen to?"

"You mean like DJs?"

"Wait, are you talking about techno?"

"Yeah, happy hardcore?"

"Oooooh."

"What'd you think I meant?"

"Like, screamo."

"Oh, I'm not really into that."

"Oh."

"I have a cousin who's in one of those bands. The music is good, but I don't like all the screaming."

"Oh really? What's their name?"

"Let it go? There's like Xs in the name, which is suppose to mean something."

"What!? Is your cousin Elsa?!"

"You know them?"

"Oh my god, are you joking?!"

"What?"

Ariel was grinning wildly.

"I'm really confused." Rapunzel stated before taking another sip of her Hala-Kahiki.

"I kissed her last night!" Ariel said, trying to suppress her smile.

Rapunzel had to shallow the mouthful of juice before saying, "What!" again, except with more emphasis. Then she whispered, "Wait, Elsa's gay?!"

"No. I found that out the hard way."

"Wait, I don't understand. How did you two meet? Why did you assume she was gay?"

"I don't know. I guess I was just trying to see something that wasn't there. We were getting along so well."

"This is nuts, you have to tell me the entire story."

"Okay, but, are you hungry? Want to go to that Méxican restaurant over there?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"It's like something from a movie!" Rapunzel said with one leg up on the booth, with her body turned toward Ariel as she told the tale while the two of them waited for a table.

"I know, right?"

Ariel's name was called and the two of them were escorted to their seats next to a brick fireplace, underneath a iron chandelier. Over the fireplace was a painting of three ducks wearing sombreros. Ariel nodded towards the painting and Rapunzel giggled.

Their waiter breezed from a doorway leading to the kitchen and appeared between the girls. "Hola mi amigas!" the man said theatrically. He had black hair that was combed and gelled back. "What can I get for you señoritas?!"

"Uh.." Ariel and Rapunzel picked up their menus.

"How about some beans straight from Meh-he-co!" he said while striking his first through the air. Ariel and Rapunzel looked at each other and started smiling. They didn't quite know if he was acting or not.

"I'll take an iced tea," Rapunzel said while still looking at Ariel.

"Just a water for me."

"You've got it!" the waiter said putting his fist in the air again before disappearing somewhere. Ariel and Rapunzel let out the laugh they were holding in. Before they could finish, the waiter was back setting their beverages in front of them. He put his hand on his waist and smiled at the two girls hiding their laughter with their menus.

"Do you know what you want?" Ariel muttered across to Rapunzel.

"I'll just have an enchilada," Rapunzel said aloud.

"I'll have that too."

"Alright! Two spicy enchiladas coming di-rectly from the finest chefs in the entire world!" The waiter announced before clapping his hands and vanishing.

"Dinner and a show!" Rapunzel laugh.

"Right?"

There was some murmuring of other people eating, though it was distant as they weren't in the radius of the two girls. Inside their circle it had grown silent. Rapunzel continued. "So, Ariel." She put the menu down. "Tell me more about yourself." She seemed eager to resume talking with Ariel.

"Myself? There's not really much to tell," Ariel said while inattentively looking down at a painting of a dancer on a card on the table.

"Sure there is. You seem fascinating," Rapunzel said, with the slightest emphasis on the final word. Rapunzel gazed at Ariel as she glanced up and looked her back into her eyes. Something was different. This was not the gaze of a mere friend. This was not Elsa; when Ariel looked into her eyes and subconsciously didn't feel a gravitational pull, but forced herself anyways. This was not Eric; when Ariel looked back into his penetrating eyes in a muddled trance, not feeling the magic she had read about in the books, but forcing herself anyways. This was something different. There was a seemingly visible line of sparkles bursting out of their eyes, two glowing, vibrant, magnetic orbs; the colors flooding out of their irises, surging into the center between them, forming a spinning sphere of energy, emitting a cyan hue, pulling them together, the gushing river connecting them and sending the blended colored light splashing back into their eyes. This was Rapunzel, and this time the thought rose to her consciousness. A thought—Ariel's hands started to move before she could even finish it—that she wanted, needed, Rapunzel. A thought—still processing—she had while lunging over the table, planting her palms on the polished wood, rattling the utensils that were sitting on it, pushing the chair back with her calves, and kissing the girl sitting across from her. She would wake up now, she thought, but she couldn't, she realized, because this was real. She really did just suddenly throw herself into the lips of a girl in the middle of a restaurant, a girl she has known for no more than an hour. Though, that really wasn't much different than the story with Elsa. With each subsequent person she kisses, the time from meeting to kiss gets shorter. The next girl Ariel meets will be greeted with simply a plant on the lips. But there won't be a next girl. Ariel didn't want there to be a next girl. But perhaps she's getting ahead of herself. After all, she is still hovered over the table mid-kiss with this beautiful girl, her hair draping off the ledge of the table, her eyes still closed. She's afraid to open them, she doesn't want to see what's around her, she doesn't want to break the illusion that she has created, she doesn't want to face reality. Ariel feels a tingling sensation against her cheek. Rapunzel's fingers lightly tap her and gently fall into a caress, holding Ariel's face. Rapunzel is kissing her back! Ariel is being accepted! This girl is not only accepting Ariel, but wants her back! Rapunzel pushes more force forward. She _really_ wants her! Ariel's arms get light, Ariel's face gets warm. Ariel is floating. She never wants this exhilarating feeling to end. Ariel's hands started to slide across the table as a result of the sweat escaping her palms, which forced Ariel to break their connection. She slowly pulled back. Ariel looked at the girl who was under a spell: eyes closed and lips still frozen in place. She watched as Rapunzel's face slowly thawed: her mouth forming into a smile, and her eyes slowly rising, never leaving the girl who put her under the spell. With their faces still close, their breath puffed against each other's skin, looking into each other's eyes with a tinge of intrigue and nervousness.

The sound of footsteps approaching ripped them apart sooner than either of them wanted. Ariel slammed back into her chair, the two girls staring at each other in awe and admiration. Rapunzel's face shifted to a rose tint, her eyelids levitating up and her mouth weighing down. Ariel stared at Rapunzel with a terrified look, surprised by her own actions. "I'm sorry," she said mechanically, but Rapunzel didn't say anything back. She had a look of disbelief on her face. Once the enchantment evaporated from Ariel's head, she darted her head from side to side. All the tables around them were empty. There were some people in the distance but they were busy with their own conversations.

"Oh my gosh that was amazing!" Rapunzel whispered, still drunk on the entrancing potion Ariel dispensed to her. She leaned over the table, hungry for more. "Again," she begged.

Ariel sucked in oxygen over her lips, into her body, powering the generator slamming her heart against the wall of her chest. Her eyes snapped to and from Rapunzel's mouth, tinged with traces of Ariel and her ruby residue. Against her logic, against her reasonable mind, she placed her fingers on the back of Rapunzel's neck, and guided herself to her. Their lips touched, and cooling, calming air inflated her body. Before she could get lost again, she said, between kisses, "Someone's...going...to see."

"I don't ca-" Rapunzel replied before pushing herself back into Ariel. Ariel squeezed her cheeks with both hands and buried her face into her, drowning herself in Rapunzel's sea of solace. Ariel tapped on her lips with her tongue, and Rapunzel answered by opening her lips and allowing Ariel to taste and explore her first kiss. Ariel's elbows began to slip on the puddle forming around her glass of water, sinking and pulling Rapunzel's face down with her. She readjusted herself without breaking the embrace. Rapunzel pulled back, "Let's stop." Ariel gravitated forward with her eyes still closed, shaking her head. Rapunzel put her fingers on Ariel's lips, "Yes you crazy girl, we're lucky we didn't get caught."

The crazy girl opened her eyes and then put her hand on her own mouth and started laughing.

"What? What's wrong? There's something on my face?" Rapunzel asked while self-consciously feeling her own face. Ariel tapped her own lips, and Rapunzel quickly grabbed the cloth napkin from under the utensils and blotted her lips. "Oh my gosh," she started laughing, "Is it gone?"

Ariel shook her head. "I'm sorry. Here, use this water." She frantically tilted the glass of water, splashing it everywhere.

"Whoa, slow down!"

"I'm sorry again. I'm still recovering..."

"Ariel, you are the craziest girl I've met," Rapunzel stated as she wiped her lips with the soaking wet cloth, "But I like that."

"That's a relief."

"So, is it gone?" Rapunzel asked while puckering her lips.

"Yeah," Ariel said as she moved in for another kiss.

"Hey! I just got it off!"

"You were so pretty."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes while smiling. "Well thank you."

"Look, we ruined their napkin."

"Uh oh."

"Quick, hide that, the guy's coming!"

Rapunzel put the napkin under the table in her lap.

"Ahhh! Two fresh enchiladas!" The waiter announced as he approached the table and set the plates down. "Careful, they are hot! Yow!"

The girls smiled without saying anything.

"Can I get you two anything else? More water señiorita?"

The two girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

The waiter put his hands on his hips. "Ahh! I see what's going on! You two are on a date! I can see the way you two look at each other!"

The two girls looked at each other in horror. Ariel shook her head.

"Ahh, there is no judgment from me, señiortas! I think all love is beautiful!"

Rapunzel's face started turning the color of the sauce on her enchilada.

The waiter laughed, "I can see I'm embarrassing you two. I'll leave you two alone. Enjoy." The waiter vanished again.

"You think he saw!?" Ariel whispered.

"I don't know! I hope not! How embarrassing." Rapunzel buried her face in her hand. "Alright, no more making out in restaurants."

"I can't make any promises," Ariel replied.

Rapunzel smirked and shook her head. "So anywayssssss, Ariel. I believe you were telling me about yourself. Before you interrupted, that is," she teased.

Ariel smiled. "Uh, I like music."

"You already told me that."

"There's not really much else to me," Ariel said as she took a bite of her food.

"There has to be!"

"I want to know more about you!" Ariel said.

"I already told you everything."

"No, just that you like to pai-" Ariel's leg vibrated.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just my phone."

"You can check it."

"That's rude."

"I don't mind. What if it's an emergency?"

"It's not. Nothing exciting ever happens in my life. It's probably just my dad." Ariel glanced at the phone. It was Elsa.

" **Hey Ariel, are you doing anything tonight? I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to some family dinner thing with me**."

"It's Elsa," Ariel said.

"Really? What did she say?"

"She wants me to come with her to a family dinner."

"Oh! I'm suppose to go to that too!"

"Really?"

"Yes. I was even thinking of asking you to come."

"Really?"

"Yes, depending on how this date went...and I would say it's been pretty good." Rapunzel blushed.

Ariel smiled.

"But you can't go," Rapunzel said suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"I haven't told anyone in my family! And Elsa knows about you! And if they see us together they will know!"

"Elsa won't tell anyone."

"I don't want Elsa to know."

"But she won-"

"Ariel. I'm not ready."

"I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

"No, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be. And besides it would be awkward anyways if I go. So, should I tell Elsa I can't go?"

"Don't tell her where you are."

"I know," Ariel said. She replied to Elsa.

Elsa wrote back right away, " **Pleaseeeeee! :( I don't want to go alone, I need you there! I have a whole thing of cookies!"**

"What'd she say?" Rapunzel asked.

"She really wants me to go." Ariel looked up from her phone and looked over at Rapunzel and then down at the table and then back up again. "I don't know if she's talked to you about this...but...she's really lonely."

"Really?" Rapunzel seemed surprised. "What about the band she's in? She always seems busy."

"It's not the same."

"Oh. I had no idea. I'm a horrible cousin! I should've been there for her. I wish she would have come to me. I would have been there for her."

"It's not your fault."

"I haven't seen her in a long time. I haven't even gone to see her band before. I'm a horrible person."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself."

"She probably hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"How do you know? She didn't even say anything about me."

"She couldn't possibly hate anyone."

"Well, she probably doesn't like me."

"I'm sure she likes you."

"You should probably go, to the dinner I mean, but not with me. And we would have to act like we don't know each other."

"That's going to be difficult."

"You can do it...actually, I'm not so sure. You might pounce me again!"

"Not when anyone's looking, at least."

"No, not at all! Even when you think no one is looking!"

"Okay fineeee," Ariel pouted.

Rapunzel laughed, "You will live."

Ariel replied to Elsa.

She responded immediately. **"Yes! I love you! You're the best!**  
**I mean, you knop**  
 **knoa**  
 **knoww, I can't even typw**  
 **type**  
 **text me your address"**

"Okay, she seems happy," Ariel said.

"I'm glad to hear that," Rapunzel said. "Alright, you want to leave now?"

"Yeah." Ariel waved the waiter over.

"I'll pay."

"No, I'm paying."

"You already paid."

As if sensing Ariel's signal, the waiter instantly turned and waltzed over. "You guys ready for desert!? Delicious flan?! Empanadas!? So good!"

Ariel laughed, "Oh no thanks, we'll take the check."

"No worries my friends, you're good to go!"

"What?"

"It's on the house!"

"Oh, no we can pay," Ariel said as she reached for her wallet.

"It's my pleasure señorita! In honor of blossoming love!"

Ariel looked over at Rapunzel who was blushing. "Thank you very much," Rapunzel said.

The waiter nodded. "See you next time!" And then he was gone.

"That was really nice," Rapunzel said.

"It was."

"Alright," Rapunzel stood up, "What do you want to do next?"

"I was hoping you had a plan."

"Did Elsa tell you when the dinner is? Nobody even told me."

"She didn't, no."

"Alright, do you want to walk around until we find out?"

"Okay."

* * *

Ariel and Rapunzel walked next to each other along a path on the edge of a cliff overlooking the coast. The waves smashed into the large rocks, sending water in its mist form up for the girls to walk through.

"I still want to know more about you," Rapunzel insisted.

"Can't we just make out instead?"

Rapunzel laughed.

"My hair is getting so frizzy," Ariel whined.

"Well I think it's incredible," Rapunzel said, touching her hair. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, it was nice." _Uggh, I'm just like Mark. This must be love._

"It must be hard to maintain," Rapunzel said, touching it again.

"It can be sometimes."

"I used to have a lot of hair."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was down to my waist."

"No way!"

"Yes way! I actually have a picture." Rapunzel pulled a phone out of her back pocket and slid her finger around the glass screen, and then showed a picture of her standing next to Eugene.

"Whoa! That's really long! And it was blond!"

"I had to buy two boxes of the bleach. This is my natural color," she said, lifting her hair out.

Ariel looked up at Rapunzel, "I like the way you look now."

Rapunzel scoffed.

"I do," she said while running her fingers across the back of her hair. "You're cute."

Rapunzel blushed.

Ariel liked making Rapunzel fluster. Ariel was always the one embarrassing herself, and she enjoyed finally being the confident person. While still holding her head, she spun around until she was blocking Rapunzel's path, dipping in for another kiss.

Rapunzel put up her hands and lightly pushed Ariel back. "I really enjoyed kissing you, but maybe we should slow down."

Ariel fell back into her spot and let go of Rapunzel. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally like this. Assertive, or whatever. I don't know what came over me."

"No I like it. I just...don't want to rush into things."

"No I know, me either."

"Have you ever been with a girl before?" Rapunzel asked.

"No, have you?"

"No."

"You're my first kiss," Ariel said.

"What? Really?"

"Well...not technically, but I consider you my first."

"Oh, wow. I'm flattered. But why?"

"'Cause you're the first girl I've kissed."

"What about Elsa. I still can't believe that happened, by the way!"

"First reciprocated kiss, I guess. I know it's kinda stupid, but that's how I see it."

"No I think that's true. In that case, you're my first kiss too!"

Ariel smiled, then went in for a second, kissing the obstructing finger Rapunzel pressed against her lips.

"Later, I promise!" Rapunzel said quietly.

"Promise?"

"Uh, yes! It's not like it's easy for me, I just think it's best."

Ariel brought up a different subject to get her mind off Rapunzel and her lips. "So tell me more about Eugene. How'd you meet?"

Rapunzel thought about this question for a quite a while. "It's actually kind of embarrassing..."

"I'm the Queen of Embarrassment, don't worry."

"Alright, so, I was in my room, which is on the fourth floor of my house, and I look out-"

"Wait, of your house? An apartment?"

"No it's a house."

"Your house has four floors?!"

"Yeah, but that's not important. Anyways, I look out the window, and I see this guy, and he's trying to break into our car!"

"Don't tell me..."

"Yes, it's Eugene, with this metal thing and he's sliding it down the window of the car door."

"Wow."

"And so I-and I usually never do stuff like this-I lean out the window and I start yelling at him 'Hey what are you doing!?' and it's like the middle of the night. And he looks at me and darts behind a bush. I'm still watching him and he keeps poking his head out waiting for me to leave, but I'm still waiting there. Then he just starts staring at me. And I'm surprised because he's very good looking and you know, you don't usually expect hoodlums to be handsome. And then he smiles at me, and I feel myself smiling back, even though just a second ago I was angry and scared! And then a security car comes around and he starts running."

" _This_ sounds like a movie."

"And so, I try to go to sleep but of course I'm up all night, thinking of this handsome thief that was trying to steal my phone that I left on the car seat. And I'm also secretly hoping he comes back. So the next day I don't even get my phone out of the car, I just leave it there, and around the same time that night, I look out the window and I'm startled to see him standing down there. He's looking in the reflection of the car windshield and fixing his hair. Then he notices me and starts smiling and waving. I didn't even realize it but I was ducked under the window and peeking my head over because I was scared. Then he starts shouting 'Hi! I'm Flynn!' and I'm like 'Shhh!' because it's late at night."

"Flynn?"

"Don't worry I'll explain in a second. So then he starts telling me to come down. And I keep shaking my head 'no', but he starts pleading and he even gets on his knees. I don't know why, maybe it was the way he looked or the face he was making, but I put some clothes on, and ran down the stairs. I knew what I was doing was dangerous, but my life was a pretty boring life, so the thrill of doing something like this was making me excited; my heart was racing! However before I went to the door I ran into the kitchen and at first I grabbed this giant knife, but I thought that was too much, then I switched it for this really heavy iron pan. So I creep up to the front door, and I lift up the curtain and peek out the window, and he's still standing there looking up at my bedroom window, which I thought was really cute. So I unbolt the door and I slowly creek it open just a crack. He notices me peeking out the door and he lights up and walks over to the door really fast, and I'm holding the pan way up like this because I'm scared he's going to grab me or something like in the movies, and at the same time the pan is really heavy and I'm afraid I'm going to drop it on my head, and I'm also thinking how he's really cute! I have all of these emotions happening at once and I have a million thoughts going at once. So he introduces himself again and waits for my name but I just keep staring at him and don't say anything. Then he's like, 'I couldn't stop thinking about you last night, you are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen' and I'm just staring at him, my instincts are telling me I should be scared, but I can feel my face getting warm. And then he's like 'I would love to take you on a date.' And the first thing I said was 'Okay.' But then in my mind I'm like 'Wait this guy was trying to steal from you!' so I get angry and say that to him, and then I say 'You're just trying to gain my trust so you can steal from me!' and he's like 'Absolutely not! The only thing I'm trying to steal is your heart!'"

"Oh my god he actually said that?"

"I know it's super corny, and I know I was a naïve girl, but at the time I was swooned and I thought it was so romantic."

"No I understand, it is, I would be too."

"Am I boring you with my story?"

"No! It's really interesting. You remember it so vividly."

"I know. It actually wasn't too long ago. And we reminisce about it quite a lot."

"Okay okay continue!"

"So I'm like, 'Where would we go?' and then he says, all dramatically, 'First I'll take you to a magnificent restaurant! And then I'll take you to the beach and we'll lay on the sand and gaze at the stars!'"

"Kinda what me and Elsa did..."

Rapunzel laughed "Hey you're right!"

Ariel shook her hand signaling to continue. "Sorry, what happened next?"

"So I'm like 'Alright, well I need to grab some things first,' and he's like 'Oh no I didn't mean right now. It's late, nothing would be open.' And then he's like 'Unless you want to go now?' and I'm like 'Sure.' It's not like I had anything better to do. And I'd never even been on a date before."

"You said that to him?"

"Oh no, I just said 'Sure.' But anyways, that's pretty much it. We dated for like 8 months."

"That's quite a story! It's so romantic. It's like a fairytale!"

Rapunzel laughed.

Ariel continued. "So..when'd you...you know...realize?"

"The exact moment?" Rapunzel looks off into the sky like she's about to tell another story. "Well...so, me and Eugene were watching a movie together at my house, and there was this scene with this beautiful girl and this guy and they take their clothes off to go skinny dipping in the ocean at night, and so they're standing side by side, and I just suddenly became aware that I kept looking at the girl, and I got this tingly feeling in my chest when I saw her naked. In the past I just assumed it was normal for girls, but then it hit me, and it hit me hard. I remember looking over at Eugene, who of course was grinning at the screen, and I was overwhelmed with tremendous sadness. He looks at me and he's like "Hey, I'm not enjoying this!" and then I start crying, because I know that I have to end this. Then I say 'Eugene I'm so confused,' and then he holds my face and looks into my eyes and asks me 'What wrong blondie?' and then I start crying even harder, because he's so sweet and I don't want to end this and because he doesn't know what's coming. And then I say 'Eugene I think I'm attracted to girls,' and he continues to look at me, and then he's said '...Like sexually? Romantically?' and then I just say 'I love you Eugene,' and he's still looking at me confused, trying to catch up with me, and I won't forget seeing his whole face fall when he did. But after a moment he says 'Rapunzel, you know I'll love you no matter what, right?' and I nod my head and he hugs me."

Ariel was looking intensely at the girl telling her story. "Wow Rapunzel he seems like an amazing guy."

Rapunzel nodded. "But enough about me. I want to hear your story."

"I don't have a story."

"I don't care if it's boring."

"It's not that. It's just not magical." Ariel leaned forward against the wooden railing along the pathway, looking down the daunting cliff and into the crashing ocean.

Rapunzel stood very close to Ariel, also leaning her arms on the railing. She looked at her. "Ariel, did something happen?"

Ariel started quickly shaking her head and hands, "You're making it sound way worse than it is. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good."

"Would it help to talk about it?"

"No..." Ariel looked out into the sea. That seemed to be the place to look when reflecting upon life. She sighed. "Well..." She didn't want to think about it but the thoughts enter her mind anyways. "So we met at a party. I know, it's cliché. I was uncomfortable being there and I was standing against the wall. Everyone was drunk and I wanted to leave but the person I drove with was also drunk and passed out on the couch. Then Eric walked up to me, he had dark hair and pretty blue eyes and he says to me, in a very smooth voice, 'Hey do you want to get out of here?' It was like he read my mind. I felt like I was saved. I don't need to explain everything else, but basically we went out for like two years. I can't even tell you what happened during that period. It was exciting for the first month or so, but after that it just became a routine I became used to and I didn't know that I should've gotten out of it."

Rapunzel was looking at the girl telling her story. "I'm so-"

"I know. It doesn't matter. I don't know why I even care, it's in the past. It doesn't matter."

"You care because it was a tough time in your life."

"It wasn't even that, it was more just boring. I didn't realize until after, but I was dead. The whole time, I was dead."

"I think I know what you mean."

Ariel turned her face from the green water to Rapunzel's green eyes startlingly close to her now startled face. Strands of deep red hair blew onto her cheek. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Rapunzel scooted in closer, emitting a charge into Ariel as their skin came into contact. "I've never really told anyone this before-well I guess Eugene knows, and it's not like I really had anyone to tell-but, before I met him, I was pretty much a loner. I was homeschooled and I never left the house. I spent like my whole life by myself in my room."

"Oh my god, that's awful."

"It's wasn't all that bad. I kept myself busy. I didn't really know any other life. But once I met Eugene, I saw that I wasn't living."

"You really did have someone save you."

"I guess I did."

Ariel's legged buzzed. She looked at her phone. "Elsa's here."

"Alright, so I'll see you later?"

"We can give you a ride."

"No, I can't come! Remember? I'll call Eugene."

"Okay. Wait do I have your number?"

"Oh yeah, no, here." Rapunzel handed Ariel her phone.

There was a picture of her chameleon. _Eww._ "Is this your pet?"

"Yeah that's Pascal."

Ariel couldn't force a compliment. She proceeded to enter her phone number. She handed it back and they stood there looking at each other. "Okay."

"Alright."

Ariel moved in a little.

"Later!" Rapunzel laughed.

"What about a hug?"

"Okay, a hug is fine."

They hugged. Ariel closed her eyes and held Rapunzel's soft body against her, letting her heat seep into her skin.

They waved, and Ariel went to the parking lot where Elsa told her to meet.

She stood there and looked around, and before long a beaten up car flew and stopped in front of her. A faint earthquake pulsated out of the center of her car. Elsa had the music on full blast. Ariel pulled the door handle but it was locked. Elsa leaned over and manually unlocked the door. Ariel opened the door and the the music burst and poured out like it was filled to the top with water. A CD box fell out of the car and onto the street. Ariel picked it up and entered the car.

"Hey!" Elsa turned the music down. "Sorry the car's so messy, and about the broken door."

"It's alright."

"What have you been up to?"

"Nothing really."

"Nothing at all?"

"Well, I got a smoothie." Ariel was looking at the Pikachu plush on the dashboard.

"Oh yeah? Why do I not believe you?" Elsa smirked at her.

"What!? I did!"

"You should've called me, I would've given you a ride."

"I was going too, but I didn't want to bother you."

"Seriously? You would've have bothered me. Call me whenever you want."

"Okay."

"Do you want a cookie?" Elsa reached and grabbed a giant bag from the back seat. "I know this is the only reason you came."

"What! No, I wanted to hang out with you!"

"Mmhmm. I think you just want my cookies."

Ariel smiled and started to blush and opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"I'm just teasing you." Elsa said, tapping Ariel's shoulder.

Ariel smiled nervously.

"Alright, so we're going to go back to my place first so I can get ready and then we'll go to the dinner."

"Wait are we suppose to dress up for this?" Ariel asked while looking down at her outfit.

"No, you're fine. You're dressed fancier than me. I'm just going to wear what I have on too, but I wanted to take a shower first."

"Oh," Ariel said. She looked over at Elsa's outfit, consisting of a black shirt that said "Message To Bears" and dark blue skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees. Her solid violet shoe lifted off the brake pedal and fell onto the gas, jerking the car forward. Ariel watched Elsa as she checked her surroundings for cars and exited the parking lot, shuffling her hands on the steering wheel. She drove with one hand and the other on the center arm rest. _She's so cool._

Elsa checked the right side mirror, and noticed Ariel looking. "Let me guess, you're thinking of me in the shower."

Ariel repeated her shocked expression. "Oh my god, uh, no! For your information, I was just analyzing what you're wearing. Geez, you sure are confident."

Elsa smiled. "I'm just joking around. I just have a lot of fun teasing you, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, I don't mind."

Elsa turned and looked at Ariel and smiled, her eyes glistened.

"You're going to crash," Ariel said.

Elsa returned to the road, still smiling.

Ariel thought about how much her life has changed in only two days. Never would she have guessed she would feel all of these emotions, or have all of these experiences. She never imagined she would she become friends with someone like Elsa, or would meet someone like Rapunzel. She looked forward at the trees flying by, and then back at Elsa, who smiled when she saw her in her peripheral view.

_This really is happening._


	9. Synced

"Well, here's my place."

Elsa held her arms up as she walked backwards when they entered her house. It was a small, plain looking house from the outside. Inside, it looked like an interior-design magazine. The walls were light purple, with framed artwork and photographs of abstracts and flowers and black-and-white-stylish-looking people.

"Wow, this is really nice."

Elsa threw her keys onto the floor. "It was all Anna. If I did the place it would just be all posters slapped on the wall. She keeps the place classy."

"Does she live here?" _That was a dumb question._

"Yeah, it's just me and her."

"You guys live on your own?" _That was an even dumber question._

"Yeah. Well she's gone most of the time at Kristoff's. But hey, that means I have the whole house to myself."

"That sounds fun." _I should stop talking._

"Yeah." Elsa walked down the hallway, and Ariel followed her. She seemed to follow her a lot. They walked by a kitchen. "Do you want something?" she offered, continuing to walk.

"I'm okay, thanks."

She opened a door at the end of the hallway and entered a room, stepping on her shoes and kicking them off. "Make yourself comfortable."

Ariel cautiously entered the room. There was immediate dissonance between Elsa's room and Anna's decorated house. Just like she said, there were posters plastered on the walls, as well as clothes piled on the floor, as well as a light blue drum set in the corner! _How cool!_

There were also papers with ink scribbled into sketches and words scattered around the floor and on the desk and even the walls. _Are these lyrics for her songs!_ "Are these lyrics for your songs!" Ariel couldn't contain her excitement.

Elsa laughed at her obvious fan. "Hey don't read those, they're not done yet."

"Hey! This one's new!" Ariel gripped the paper and eyed it like she was reading a rare sacred text she'd just discovered.

"Don't!" Elsa swiped for the paper but Ariel made her grab at air.

"Please!" Ariel begged as she turned her back towards Elsa and frantically tried to decipher the scribble before it exploded.

"I'm serious!" Elsa reached around from behind but Ariel bent to avoid her hands.

Suddenly, Ariel felt a tremendous weight on her back as her knees caved and hit the carpet. Elsa had jumped on her back, determined to not let her read the paper, but Ariel wasn't going down without a fight, well, at least not without a fight... "Just let me seeeeeee!" Ariel was clutching the paper against her stomach, against her heart, and Elsa was trying to pry open her fingers. "What's the big deal!?" Ariel asked as she was hunched over on the floor like a turtle in a shell, with Elsa applying the full force of her body onto her.

"Stop! Respect my privacy!"

Ashamed of her actions, Ariel then relaxed her muscles and held the paper up for Elsa to whisk from her, Elsa's signature overpowering magic prevailing.

Ariel remained unmoved in her deep bow pose. "I'm sorry."

Elsa let out a laugh at the sad sight of Ariel hunched over on the ground. "Hey, it's not a big deal." Elsa grabbed and pulled Ariel's hand but she didn't cooperate. Refusing to move, Elsa continued to pull Ariel's hand until she was stretched out onto her stomach. She then put her hands under her arms and tried to lift her, but the both of them fell to the ground. Elsa gave up and told Ariel, who was lying on her back, "Alright, you can stay there, I'll be right back."

Ariel didn't say anything but her own ridiculous behavior put a smile on her face. Ariel looked up above her and watched Elsa walk on the ceiling and into a room, closing the door behind her, which stopped, remaining ajar. She heard the shower start. She heard the shower sssttt... _!_

Ariel quickly flipped over onto her stomach again, eyes level with the carpet, sight running across the floor until it reached the bathroom tiles. _Why did she leave the door open? Was it an accident?_ She started crawling to the door. _What am I doing?_ She was at the door, still on the ground. Images of Elsa in the shower steamed up her mind as steam floated over her head and out the door. As much as she wanted to see Elsa in this way, she knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Elsa? You left the door open."

No response.

"Elsa?" she said louder. She knocked on the door and, like the movies, it just slowly opened. "Elsa!" Ariel shouted.

Elsa peeked her head out of the curtain. "Yeah?" Elsa looked down at the girl on the ground looking up at her with the door wide open and let out a laugh. "What are you doing?"

Ariel stared back with wide eyes and pointed at the door. "The door was open."

"Yeah 'cause you opened it."

"I didn't mean too!"

"Alright."

They looked at each other. Elsa's hair was wet and removed and free from the braids and it was dripping on the floor. Water was dripping off her eyelashes. Ariel eyes traveled down her suspended hair and synced with the droplet hitting the floor. They climbed back upwards to meet Elsa's eyes still looking at Ariel.

"Alright," Elsa said again.

"Alright," Ariel said.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I do not know."

"Alright," Elsa said, before retreating to the shower.

Ariel remained still, her arms starting to shake from holding herself up. "Should I close the door?"

"Yeah."

Ariel reached her arm up to grab the handle, remaining on the carpet, hovering over the tile without touching it and clicked the door closed. She then turned around and leaned her back against the door. Her mind was completely blank.

* * *

The door opened and she fell back. She had forgotten she was leaning against it. She didn't even know how much time had passed,

"You were sitting there the whole time?"

"Uh..."

"Well I'm almost done." Elsa turned on a blow-dryer and started shaking it rapidly next to her hair. She was wearing a different outfit, or rather, just a different shirt. It was black and had large semi-cursive gold-foil text that read 'Help I'm Alive' and covered the entire shirt. _Where does she get all of these cool shirts?_

Ariel rose to her feet and stood next to Elsa in the mirror, who was eyeing Ariel through the reflection while continuing to dry her hair. She then tilted the dryer and blew hot hair into Ariel's face. Ariel turned from the reflected to the original girl and lowered her eyebrows and Elsa just smiled.

She turned on the flat iron and waited for it to heat up.

"I'm actually very curious how you do your hair," Ariel said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Elsa held up some of her hair and clamped the irons onto and it, emitting a crackling sizzling sound while white smoke evaporated from her white hair. Elsa straightened out the rest of her hair. "I just take big chunks like this, and then braid it. That's it."

"It can't be."

Elsa finished braiding her hair and took a black hair tie off her wrist and banded it together. "That's really it. And I have these bang things," Elsa swooped the shorter hair on her forehead back up to the top of her head with her fingers.

"It's incredible Elsa." There were stars in Ariel's eyes.

* * *

"So where are we going again?" Ariel asked as they pulled up to a magnificent gate.

"My Aunt and Uncle's house." Elsa drove next to a security hut and rolled down the window.

"Oh hi Elsa! I haven't seen you in a long time!" the security guard left a game of computer solitaire to speak. She bent down to look in the window at the person in the passenger seat.

"This is my friend Ariel."

Ariel smiled and waved.

"Hello," the guard said, waving back. She turned to Elsa. "How are you doing Elsa? How is Anna doing?"

"Anna's doing good."

"That's good to hear. Well I hope to see you guys around more often."

"Yeah."

The guard pushed a button, granting the two girls access to the enclosed community. "Oh, by the way, I've gotten several reports of a suspicious-looking white van. If you see anything, let me know."

"Alright," Elsa said before flying through the gates.

"Is she talking about your van?" Ariel asked.

Elsa shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I hope not."

They pulled into a very wide driveway.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to come to this?" Ariel asked.

"Yeah it's not a big deal. Do you not want to go?"

"No I do, I just- it just feels like I shouldn't be here."

"I get it. I feel that way too. But don't worry, you're with me."

"Oh."

"I don't really want to go to this but my Aunt practically begged me."

"Oh."

"How about when this is done, we go somewhere? Just us?"

"I would like that a lot."

They approached the impossibly tall doors to an unbelievably towering house. Ariel bent back to look up at it. _So this is Rapunzel's house_ _._ She looked up at the fourth story window and tried to imagine Rapunzel yelling from it.

Elsa pushed a lit button, chiming a bell. Elsa looked over at Ariel and she looked back. The door opened.

"Elsa! It's so good to see you!" A woman said while opening her arms.

"Hi Aunt Lora..." Elsa said, rolling her eyes with a smile forming against her will.

"And who is this?" She asked looking over Elsa's shoulder.

"This is my friend Ariel."

"My you are beautiful!" She said, stepping over to her. "And look at this hair!" She was touching the ends of her hair. "You found someone just like you Elsa."

Elsa's eyes were floating around.

"Oh I'm embarrassing her. Elsa's aunt said to Ariel, who was nervously smiling back, unused to this kind of closeness. "We're just waiting for the other guests. Come on in, make yourselves comfortable. Why don't you go say hi to Rapunzel? She should be in her room."

"Okay."

_Rapunzel isn't in her room._

Elsa looked at Ariel again and nodded her head to the side. Ariel followed her up a massive spiral staircase. It was quite magnificent. Everything in this house was magnificent. Ariel climbed them, naturally heading diagonally, following the curve of the steps, sliding her hand across the smooth wood. She looked up at Elsa hiking up the steep mountain. Elsa looked over her shoulder at Ariel and smiled, then continued to climb.

They reached the landing, breathing slightly heavy.

"Those are the longest stairs I've ever seen."

"Right?" They were in front of a closed door. Elsa knocked.

_Rapunzel isn't in there._

"Rapunzel? It's Elsa." She called out through the door. Elsa muttered to Ariel, "You know I haven't seen her in a long time. I don't even remember what she looks like."

"Oh." Ariel looked away.

"She's my cousin by the way, did I mention that?"

"I don't think so."

"Rapunzel?" She knocked again. "Do you think she's in there? Should I open the door?"

"Uh..."

"What if she's busy?"

Ariel's heart increased slightly, even though she knew she wasn't in there.

"Okay I'm coming in!" Elsa announced as she grabbed the knob and pushed the door open. She walked into the center of the room, scanning the area and then spun around. "She's not here."

Ariel peeked her head in like she was entering a forbidden lair, looked around to confirm the absence of her presence, then stepped over the threshold of the door frame.

The ceiling was unusually high and the walls were uncommonly tall. Covering every inch of those walls were beautiful and colorful paintings. It was breathtaking, which was confirmed by Ariel's open mouth as she gazed up at the ceiling, which had a painted yellow sun design at the very top. "This is amazing. Did she do all of this?"

Elsa was busy looking at some papers on her desk. "Oh yeah, she did."

"I can't believe this. This is incredible."

"Yeah."

Ariel looked over at Elsa, who was now holding the paper and reading it. "Hey! What about privacy!?"

She put the paper down, "You're right."

"You're a hypocrite!" Ariel said playfully.

Elsa didn't respond.

"Hey, I was just joking around."

"Elsa?" a voice came from the door. They both looked up. It was Rapunzel and Eugene.

"Rapunzel? Oh my god what'd you do to your hair!?" Elsa walked up to her and touched her short hair.

Ariel felt a sudden swell of jealously, though she didn't know where it was coming from or who it was directed towards.

"Oh I guess you haven't seen me since I cut it." Rapunzel looked at the ground self-consciously as Elsa picked up strands of her hair.

"I like it a lot. I like how it's layered in the back."

"Thanks!" Eugene hollered!

"What?"

"Oh, Eugene's the one who cut it," Rapunzel said.

"Oh wow, I'm impressed."

Eugene beamed and nodded his head, looking at Ariel to share his pride.

Ariel looked at Rapunzel who was staring back at her with a fixated gaze of fear as Elsa the hairstylist played with her hair.

Elsa took notice. "Oh this is my friend Ariel. Ariel, this is my cousin Rapunzel."

"Nice to meet you," Rapunzel said slightly too early, sticking her hand out to shake. The entire thing seemed unnatural. Eugene was looking at Elsa, as well as the two actors in the corner of his eyes, to see if she suspected anything, but she was so focused on Rapunzel's hairdo.

"You look so different," Elsa said, obsessed.

Rapunzel laughed nervously. "Yeah..."

"You look really good." Elsa kept at it.

"Thank you Elsa."

A voice came from outside the room. "Pardon to interrupt Miss Rapunzel, but you and the guests are needed in the dining room, dinner is about to begin." A slightly older man wearing a suit stood to the side of the open door.

"Okay." Rapunzel said. The suited man left.

"Who was that?" Ariel couldn't help but ask.

Rapunzel was about to answer before Eugene blurted out, "Their butler!"

"What?!"

"I know! Isn't that nuts?!"

Rapunzel was distant and looking at the ground with an ever-so-melancholic face. Ariel wanted to ask what was wrong but she would have to wait until they were alone.

* * *

Ariel was somehow at an impossibly long table with a stack of plates and a silk napkins and at least 4 utensils lined next to the plates. She was sitting next to Elsa. Across from her, past the candles, in the middle of the table, sat Eugene, with Rapunzel next to him. Next to Rapunzel was Kristoff and next to him was Elsa's sister Anna.

When they reached the bottom of the spiraling staircase Anna and Kristoff had just entered the house. Elsa was too dejected to even greet her sister, but not enough to glare at Kristoff, who looked back at her with eyes of fear and confusion. Elsa would've continued walking without saying anything but Anna noticed a new face and asked Elsa who her new friend was. She was very friendly and bubbly and seemed very excited to meet Ariel. She gripped Ariel's hand with both of hers and enthusiastically shook it. Her striking turquoise eyes piercing Ariel's frightened eyes. She was nervous because Anna was so close to her face and she was so pretty. She had freckles sprinkled on her face like cinnamon, and auburn hair braided into two.

Rapunzel was looking down at her tower of plates. At the end of the table was a man Ariel presumed was her dad, and next to him was Rapunzel's mom. In the rest of the seats sat unknown family members who didn't introduce themselves. Ariel felt tremendously out of place. She shouldn't be intruding on this family dinner. But Rapunzel seemed out of place as well. Elsa too, who was sitting with her hands in her lap, staring into blankly in the direction of the candle centerpiece. Eugene was just smiling and looking around. Anna and Kristoff were talking to each other. Ariel looked down the table, all the family were murmuring amongst themselves, nobody was aware of the group of outcasts isolated at the other end.

A man wearing a white chef's outfit was pushing a cart around with an impossibly large bowl of salad, dispensing it into each person's dish. _Is any of this real?_

The man at the end of the table started broadcasting. "Welcome everyone, thank you for coming. You're probably wondering why you're here."

"Not really, I'm just here for the free food!" One of the men said and everyone at the table laughed except Rapunzel and Elsa and Ariel. Kristoff and Anna smiled but mostly to be polite. Eugene laughed. He seemed to be trying to engage in the conversation even though he was stranded far off at the very end of the table.

"Well I'll make the announcement later, but for now let's just enjoy the food." The family resumed talking and the man sat back down.

* * *

Two courses later, Ariel was trying to eat the food displayed in front of her. She didn't have much of an appetite. She was concerned about Rapunzel and Elsa. But not about Eugene, who was enjoying every bite of the food given to him, and intently listening to everyone, but not providing any input himself. He kept asking Rapunzel if she was alright and she said yes and told him to eat his food. At one point he put his hand around her shoulder trying to console her but she pushed it off and said 'not here Eugene,' looking down in his direction but not making eye contact.

"Alright," the man who was probably Rapunzel's dad said while wiping his face with the fancy silk napkin. "I've made you wait long enough." He tapped his fork against his wine glass and said "Can I have everyone's attention?" Even though everyone was already giving it to him. "So...unfortunately they'll come a time when I'm too old to run the company—shut up Anton!" He laughed with the same comedic man from earlier. "Anyways, I would prefer not to sell it, and I definitely don't want to shut it down. I've been thinking about this for a while now but the answer is obvious." He looked down the table. "Rapunzel, will you come up here please."

Everyone turned and looked at Rapunzel who was looking down at her food slowly twirling it around with her fork. Ariel tried to get her attention using the power of her eyes but of course that didn't work.

"Rapunzel dear?"

She looked up and seemed startled that everyone was staring at her.

"Would you mind coming up here?"

She quickly stood up and bashed the bottom of the table, clanking the glassware, and averted her eyes from everyone's smiling faces. Everyone was smiling except Ariel, whose face was covered in worry; and Elsa, who had a alerted and guarded look.

Rapunzel's (probably) dad stood up and put his hand on her shoulder when she arrived at him and directed her to face the dinner guests. "Rapunzel has been an outstanding employee, and she was learned so much so quickly since she's started. She's always on time, she turns everything in quickly, and she's probably the smartest employee I have, even more so than those I.T. guys I hired. One time the entire network failed and none of us could login to the computers, and those idiots couldn't even fix it. Then Rapunzel comes in and boom, it's up and running again. And of course, she even helped me set up my e-mail account when I couldn't figure out the damn thing."

"Who's the idiot now?"

"Shut your face Anton!" He barked and pointed at the man laughing at him. Maybe they're brothers. "You made me lose my train of thought. Oh right." He turned to the girl whose shoulder he was holding. "Rapunzel, how would you like to take over the company? Not today I mean, but in time."

_What's going on? What is this company? What does she do? What's happening?_

Ariel looked around, the family members were all smiling excitedly. Eugene looked shocked. Anna and Kristoff were happy. Elsa was confused, but not as confused as Ariel.

Rapunzel opened her mouth but nothing came out. She was sad and nervous. She looked back at Eugene who's eyes were wide and concerned, and then over to Ariel who didn't have enough time to process a visual response, and then down the middle at nobody, her eyes traveling far off and out the wall-length window on the other side of the table, and into the view of the busy sky full of puffy white clouds and stuffy light birds. The house sat on top of a hill overlooking blue skies and blue seas.

The entire room was silent. Dust particles captured the natural light and brought everything to slow-motion. Rapunzel's breath was audible.

"Rapunzel?" asked the dad.

Rapunzel's eyes were shifting from looking forward at nothing to slightly to the side at nothing. "Oh..." sound finally emitted from Rapunzel, "...kay..."

"Great!" The dad turned. "Everybody say hello to the future CEO! My successor!" he said while letting out a chuckle. Everyone applauded. "Why don't you have a seat right here?"

"Um...I need to use the restroom."

"Oh, of course."

Rapunzel disappeared into a hallway.

The murmuring resumed.

Ariel leaned over to Elsa. "Is it okay for me to get up and go to the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

"Where is it?"

"Down that hall."

"Thanks."

Ariel got up and walked past everybody. Some heads turned as they watched the mystery girl with bright red hair walk by.

The hallway was long with hardwood floors with a carpeted pathway in the center. There were many doors and they all looked the same and they were all closed. One of the doors at the end had light leaking underneath it. Ariel decided to wait outside that door. She looked up at an oil painting of a ship during a storm that had its own little lamp illuminating it.

She wanted to knock but wasn't sure if Rapunzel was in there. She waited a little longer. Also in the hallway was a podium with a vase perched atop. These art pieces seemed antiquated and were probably worth a lot of money.

After a few more minutes, the door knob vibrated and the light turned off. Rapunzel opened the door and when she noticed Ariel, she looked down the hall and started yelling at her in whisper form "Get out of here!"

"Are you okay Rapunzel?"

"Go back now!" She was very upset.

"I just want to talk!"

Rapunzel grabbed her arm and yanked her into the bathroom. She locked the door and turned on the light. Her voice was no longer a whisper but still soft. "What are you thinking?! People are going to see us together!"

"I was worried about you."

Rapunzel looked away and didn't say anything.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" Ariel asked.

"I don't know what's going on!" She leaned her elbows on the marble counter and buried her face in her hands. The mirror in front of her multiplying her state of distress.

Ariel put her hand on Rapunzel's back and started rubbing. Rapunzel let out a sigh. "He just sprung this on me!" Her voice was muffled by her hands.

"You didn't know?"

"No!"

"And you don't want this?"

"No! I don't even like working there! I only do it because I have nothing else to do!"

Ariel was curious what the job was but decided it wasn't the time to ask.

Rapunzel lifted her face out of her hands while holding them in the same position. Rapunzel lifted her face from her hands. "I don't even understand why he wants me to do this," she said before putting her face back into her hands.

"Because you're a great employee."

"But I'm not!"

"Sure you are."

"I'm not, I just sit around most of the time. Sometimes I even leave for hours."

"But you fixed all those computers."

"A cable was unplugged, that's all. I just plugged it in and got all this praise for nothing."

"But you still fixed it."

"He doesn't even know that I'm a bad worker."

"You're being too hard on yourself, I'm sure you're great."

"I'm not!"

"You are."

"He has no idea what I do!"

"It's okay."

"NO!" Rapunzel said very loudly, almost shouting, then realizing, she said lower, but with force still, "No! He doesn't know who I am."

Ariel was a little startled with how upset she was getting, but continued her comforting. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"You don't understand...you don't understand. He gets rid of people who don't follow the rules!"

"Rapunzel..." Ariel started rubbing her back again.

She started muttering to herself. "Oh god what have I done..."

"Rapunzel! Seriously! It's okay!"

Rapunzel threw her back up, breaking through Ariel's consoling hand, and stepped back. "This is not okay! You need to leave. We can't be seen together. This was a mistake, you shouldn't be here."

Ariel didn't know how to respond to this. It was a blow to her heart. "Okay..." Ariel waited a moment for Rapunzel to respond, but she just looked at the floor, watching Ariel in her peripheral sight. "I'm sorry Rapunzel..." Ariel opened the door, waiting again for a response, but didn't receive it. She stepped backwards outside and closed the door in front of her. She stood in front of the door.

_I should have said something different. I wish I could rewind time and choose my words differently. But what could I have said?_

Ariel stared at the door.

"Have you been standing there the whole time?" A voice that sounded like Elsa approaching asked.

Ariel turned around. _Elsa's so pretty._ _What's wrong with me? Why am I thinking that now?_

"Uhhh..." Her mind was a blended mixture Rapunzel's turmoil and awe of Elsa.

"There's one upstairs, you want me to take you?"

"Oh...kay..."

* * *

Ariel felt like she was on a spy mission as she was following Elsa throughout the giant mansion. They walked down a never-ending corridor and up a flight of stairs and down another never-ending corridor and past- "A library?! They have a library?!"

Elsa let out a laugh. "Yeah."

Ariel was looking in the room and then looked over to see Elsa hadn't stopped and was still walking and was now far away. "Elsa wait, you're leaving me behind."

Elsa stopped and turned around. Ariel jogged over the plush carpet to catch up to Elsa. As she got close, Elsa put out her hand. Ariel stopped in her tracks, and looked at Elsa's delicate hands extended towards her, then looked up at Elsa.

"I won't," she said.

They looked at each other. Ariel's eyes twinkled. A small smile formed in the corner of Elsa's lips. Ariel accepted Elsa's hand, and they resumed their walk through the passage of the palace with their hands inter-locked. Overwhelmed with warmth and the tingly sensation of butterflies tickling the inside of her skin, she hugged Elsa's arm and squished her face against her shoulder.

She closed her eyes and let out a long deep breath, exhaling all of her worries, and sinking into Elsa and absorbing her scent and her heat. She hugged her arm tighter. _This feels so amazing... She's so warm...She smells so good..._

Realizing what she was doing but not realizing how much time had passed, she quickly pulled back, but continued to hold onto Elsa's hand. "I'm sorry. I- That was too.." Ariel put her head down but looked up with her eyes at Elsa who was smiling at her but didn't say anything.

"Okay let's go," Elsa said as she began to escort her.

"Elsa, wait." Ariel didn't plan on letting go of her hand anytime soon. "I don't have to go to the bathroom. I really enjoyed venturing around this big castle with you so I didn't say anything."

"It's fun, right?"

"Yes!"

"And as long as we're being honest, I'm actually lost."

"What!"

"I swear this hallway is new." Elsa looked up at the ceiling.

"Why is this house so big?!"

Elsa lowered her head down and turned towards Ariel. "Hey you wanna get out of here and go somewhere?"

"O-okay, yeah."

"Alright let's go." Elsa started to walk, still holding Ariel's hand.

"What about your family? Aren't you going to say bye?"

"They won't even know I'm gone." Elsa started to walk, but was anchored by Ariel who was still standing still.

 _But what about Rapunzel?_ She wanted to ask. But that might raise suspicion. _I already stressed her out enough..._

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked the girl spaced out.

Ariel re-focused. "Oh, nothing." She shook her head.

"We don't have to go anywhere."

"No, I want too!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Ariel thought back to what Elsa said before. "They will know you're gone Elsa."

"But they won't care."

"How do you know that?"

"I've left before and they never say anything," Elsa said.

"Maybe they just didn't know what to say."

"They just didn't care enough."

"Elsa you don't know that."

"Come on, enough about them. Let's go do something fun."

Ariel looked at Elsa's profile. She looked at her features, her eyebrows. They looked heavy.

Expecting a response, Elsa turned. "Seriously what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I just have a lot on my mind."

"Do you want to do something to relax?"

_Can we kiss? Wait, we can't do that! I would be cheating on Rapunzel! But are we even together? But it doesn't matter because I can't even be with Elsa!_

"You weren't kidding," Elsa said. "You do have a lot on your mind."

"I'm sorry! Yes that sounds great!"

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know I was hoping you had an idea."

"We'll figure it out later. First let's just find a way outta here."

Elsa and Ariel managed to find their way to the front door.

"Shhhh," Elsa held her finger up to her lips. "Let's be quiet."

Ariel's eyes widened and heart increased as Elsa made the same gesture that Ariel had created in her fantasy come to life.

Ariel realized Elsa's hand was missing from hers and she was now standing in the door frame, waving her hands through, "Let's go!" she mouthed.

Turning her mind off and leaving all of her concerns behind, Ariel ran after Elsa into the now night sky.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 03.31.17 Update: Time keeps vanishing!!!!!! Writing is hard and time consuming (´•̥̥̥ω•̥̥̥`)!!!! But! I have two chapters in the works, and one is already at 11,000 words! Each one takes place at a new music scene! It's very exciting, and I can't wait to share it!
> 
> 07.17.17 Update: Time will not relent! It is charging at me with full force, pushing me along, debris and unearthed grass flying up as I lock my knees and keep my feet in constant friction with the ground. The next chapter is done (something I thought would never happen) at 10,000 words, and the following chapter is currently at 15,000 but it's still not done.. I was thinking about waiting until I finish the entire story before publishing to avoid these year-long delays, but I don't even know what the end looks like or how long it will take. (And part of me never wants this world to end.) Maybe I will just do what I've always done: Become overwhelmed by the volume of words and the time needed to craft them, end up finishing when I least expect it, and then push publish immediately. Help!
> 
> 08.13.17 Update: 17,000 words. I like to think that part of the reason writing takes so long is because I spend so much time and energy trying to create meaningful and complex characters, interesting prose, and trying to ensure absolute accuracy by doing exhaustive research. In the end, I hope to offer a unique story, and hope that it resonates with at least one person. And even after all these words, I'm very proud of the quality, which I feel is only increasing. There's even original lyrics in the next chapters!
> 
> 10.9.17 Update: I promise I'm not dead! I would like to say that the word count has been exponentially increasing but that's not true... However, I will finish this story... if it's the last thing I do! I've been dying to share it! In the meantime, however, I highly recommend a game called "Butterfly Soup"! ! ! (It's free!)
> 
> 12.23.17 Update: Okay... I told myself I wanted to be finished by the end of the year. I need to be honest with myself, that isn't going to happen. So, I'm going to stop saying that an update is imminent even if I felt it was true because I was on a roll with writing. Life has been way busier than I imagined. (And losing inspiration is also a major factor as well, unfortunately...) However, I have been slowly chipping away at the story whenever I find time. The estimated read time of a 20,000 word chapter is over an hour, which means editing takes up a bulk of the time... But as for the future... I can't currently give any reliable time frame, but it will eventually be completed even if it takes me 20 years! This is my favorite story to write and I've put so much energy into it so I'm going to see it through until the end! Anyways, thanks to anyone who has been following this and to everyone who has left a nice comment! I really appreciate it! The current plan is to finish the entire story and then start releasing the chapters one week apart. See you soon!. . . .


End file.
